Learning to Deal
by schizoidmastermind
Summary: Rogue runs off, with no intention of returning, to deal with her inner demons. While the other XMen have to deal with her absence, especially those closest to her. Perhaps ROMY later.
1. Runaway

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

No one truly understood her, how could they? Perhaps that was the reason she was on a bus heading for Charleston, South Carolina with only a duffle bag in the middle of the night when she should be back at the mansion sleeping.

She was scared to be honest; she was scared of what she could do and what she was capable of doing to herself and others. After Apocalypse, she had proven to herself that she was in fact a danger to everyone around her. It didn't matter that she had saved the world and her friends, she had still hurt each and every one of them and that was proof enough that she shouldn't be around them.

At least she had left a note for Kitty to find when she woke the next morning. It didn't explain much of anything, only that she was going on her own to find herself, not to follow her, and she would return if the X-Men needed her again; like if Apocalypse reappeared.

Perhaps this whole journey of self-discovery was more than just that and being able to prevent her from harming her friends. Perhaps it was a journey of reflection as well. L-rd only knew she was well over do for a good long reflection, something one couldn't get at the X-Mansion. No, she needed to be completely alone without the other X-Men to barge in on her parade, without having to be reminded that she never had a chance with Scott.

She laughed at herself. How could she not?! There she was still pining after a guy she never once had a chance with and who she still allowed herself to crush after for so long. Where did it all lead to? Nothing but hurt feelings and untold truths that she doubted Scott had ever noticed during their time together.

_At least he wasn't the only reason Ah had joined,_ she told herself with a smile. Scott had not been the only reason she decided to side with the X-Men. Mystique had lied to her, filled her mind with false truths, how could Rogue dare to think of staying with a group led by a woman who she couldn't trust?! Plus, with the X-Men there was the promise that the Prof would be there to help her with her powers.

_Some joke!_ she scoffed. The Prof hadn't taken the time to help her with her problems; then again she never went to him for help. Still, the Prof was a mind-reader he should have taken the time to help her regain some ability to touch others; he worked with Jean and even with Spike for a while!

Who was she fooling? The Prof treated her like the other kids; the only problem was that she wasn't like the other kids. They all had an extra power; they lost no abilities just gained a new ability. Mr. McCoy lost his ability to be around in society due to his appearance but he made the most of it by being a teacher, but that was his choice! He didn't have to worry constantly about personal space and the possibility of some idiot touching him, like the guy next to Rogue who kept 'accidentally' resting his hand on her knee.

Jean had an added power but she just needed help when it grew, yet she could touch, hold, and kiss others whereas Rogue couldn't do that without feeling anxiety about the person she hugged touching her skin.

Not to mention, none of the other students had everyone they had ever touched stuck in their head! Yes, the Prof had helped her build that lovely brick wall so that she could keep the personalities out but the wall was crumbling again with the reintroduction of all the personalities from when she absorbed their powers for Apocalypse. It really hurt her head and it scared her.

Maybe that's why the Prof didn't take time with her, because he was afraid of adding fuel to these personalities and making Rogue an even stronger mutant. Perhaps that was why the others would flinch away from her when she would try to help or touch them despite the fact that she was completely covered in clothes.

Apocalypse was the strongest mutant in existence but he was defeated by her and that machine of his. Magneto was the strongest mutant and the only one not affected by telepaths due to his helmet. Professor Xavier was the strongest telepath in existence to date. Could she really be compared to them, she wasn't the strongest in any one power; she had a calash of powers at her disposal.

Rogue had always thought the powers she took were temporary, that was until the personalities had decided to try to take over her. That awoke every power she had ever absorbed and she found that she could control each one better than the original owner. It was frightening, especially since she couldn't control it at first until she became enraged and blinded by the power.

'Power corrupts, Absolute power corrupts absolutely' right? That's what Rogue had once heard and maybe it was true, and that could be another reason why she was afraid of herself.

Doesn't it sound to be strange to be scared of one's self? If so, then it was another odd thing to add to Rogue's "Odd Things about Rogue" list, it was getting rather long.

_Maybe this trip will help meh clear mah mind,_ she thought leaning against the window. _Gawd__, this bahtter work!_

* * *

"GOOD MORNING WESTCHESTER! IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY OUT TODAY! IT'S RAINING!" cried the person on the radio until Kitty slammed her fist against her nuisance of an alarm clock.

Apparently, the covering your head with the pillow doesn't block out a radio alarm clock that is turned up to maximum power. Kitty passed through the pillow only to catch some feathers in her hair.

"I should really stop doing that," she sighed, plucking out the feathers from her hair. "Rogue, are you awake yet?"

Stretching Kitty glanced at her roommate's bed only to find it empty and with a slip of paper on it. Scratching her head, Kitty got out of bed and walked over to the bed, picking up the note. Kitty read it as quickly as her sleepy eyes would allow her to.

"Oh that's great, she's run away," smiled Kitty, not quite understanding the note due to 'Non-Morning Brain Syndrome'. "Wait, she ran away?!" She glanced over the note again then without warning she slipped through the floor and into Logan's room when he was starring out the window with a cigar in his mouth and in just his boxers. "Logan!"

Even though Logan had smelt the half pint the moment her feet entered his room he was still surprised that she would practically scream his name when he was right in front of her.

"Half pint, keep it down, I'm right in front of you," he told her as he put his cigar out on his hand. The wound healed up quickly enough.

"It's Rogue!" cried Kitty in panic.

"What about her?! Has she lost control again?!" he demanded grabbing Kitty by the shoulders and shaking her a bit.

"She's gone!" Kitty told him.

Gone? Rogue, the only real kid in this entire school Logan thought of as being really smart and a strong person, to overcome what she has she would have to be a strong girl, was gone?! He couldn't believe it-wouldn't believe it!

Without another word Logan left his room and raced up the stairs, taking two at a time and barged into the room shared between Kitty and Rogue. Indeed, it was empty; Rogue's bed was made but not slept in, her smell lingered in the room but it was faint due to the open window. With these facts as no real proof of Rogue's disappearance Logan began opening her drawers, finding each one empty-Rogue never had many clothes. There was nothing in the closet but Kitty's clothes; then again Logan doubted that Rogue actually needed to hang anything up.

What proved to Logan that Rogue was in fact gone was the fact that there were five books missing from her shelf. 'Shakespeare's' Complete Plays', 'Phantom of the Opera', 'The Lord of the Rings', 'Outlaws of Sherwood', and 'Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman: An Assembly Such As This'; Rogue's favorite books. Once all five were gone Logan knew she was gone too.

"She left a note," he heard Kitty mutter. Veering around Logan marched up to the girl and snatched the note from her hand then skimmed over it.

"Go tell the Prof, half pint," commanded Logan, "this is something the entire household should hear."

"Yes Mr. Logan," nodded Kitty and dashing down the hallway to the staircase so she may head to the Professor's Office.

Logan sighed. "Why'd you do it kid?" It baffled him so.

In a matter of minutes the entire household was in the-dubbed-'family room' all clothed so that they may be off to school right away after the news was broken to them. Professor Xavier read Rogue's note out loud to the household and it brought about a mixture of reactions. Kurt was in as much denial as Logan had been, Bobby and Samuel were a bit sadden, the other younger students held more indecisive expressions, and the two eldest had the sternest of all expressions.

"Is it really true?" Scott spoke up. "How do we actually know that she ran away and was not kidnapped?"

"Because there were only two scents in the room as there should have been," Logan answered.

"Why would she do it?" Jean asked the one question that was aroused in almost everyone's minds. "I mean, she certainly does seem the type to do so but to have her actually go through with it is an entirely different story."

Professor Xavier drew in a breath, "I do not know Jean, there could be a myriad of reasons why she decided to run away and we all were just unaware of them."

"Ve need to find her!" Kurt exclaimed.

"I do not think she really wants to be found Kurt, as much as we would _all_ love to find her," Xavier explained to Kurt. "She made it very clear in this note that she needs some time alone."

Kurt's face just fell and Kitty put an arm around his shoulders comforting.

"However, we at least know that she is willing to come back should we ever need her again," added Xavier. "If nothing else comforts you Kurt, let that. Now it's off to school for all of you."

The students all filed out of the room and were all going off to catch their rides-if they needed them-to school.

"What do you make of the situation Logan?" Hank inquired after all the teens were gone and it was only the Prof, Ororo, Logan, Jean, Scott, and himself.

Logan sat on the arm of couch with his arms crossed. "She's gone, that's for certain, but I don't think it was on impulse either. She had some idea of what she was doing since she got past all the security devices, not to mention me."

"You bonded with her the most, what do you think her reasoning is?" Xavier questioned.

Logan sighed again. "If I was to take a guess I would say so that she wouldn't be hurt nor hurt anyone else anymore, but I could always be wrong," he shrugged.

"Should we try to track her down?" Jean asked.

"No," Logan answered before anyone else could. "If we do that then we're placed back at square one with her. She has enough trust in us to tell us not to follow her even though we could the moment she uses her powers."

The others nodded in agreement. She had placed a lot of trust in them not to follow her, so why go break that now? Still, should they really leave her out there in the world alone?


	2. Satanism?

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect.  **No** suing!  Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

**ALSO:**  the *** **means** something happening **elsewhere** at about **the** same time **and ******* means **a** later time.  **Just** thought I **should **clear that **up** now.

There was one more thing that Rogue found herself being envious of, when people could sleep on a bus.  She couldn't sleep on a bus; it was the sense of not being able to prevent anyone from touching her skin.  So to keep herself entertained during the night, Rogue had fiddled around with her keychain rubix cube.  Like most people she knew, Rogue couldn't solve the darn thing but it was challenging to her brain.

About fifteen minutes of working with the darn cube, Rogue dropped it in frustration.  It was a mentally stimulating thing to try and complete but it also frustrated her easily in not being able to master it.

The bus suddenly stopped about mid-morning, shaking any sleeping people awake.  "Last stop people, everyone out," announced the bus driver.

There was much grumbling as people gathered their personal items and began filing out of the bus.  Rogue was the last to leave since she felt safer being behind everyone instead of in front of someone.

As she got off the bus she noticed that she was in a small little town, certainly not Charleston.  So, she turned to the bus driver before he closed the door and demanded, "What is this place?  It ain't Charleston."

"You're right, it isn't.  You're a few miles outside of Charleston girlie," laughed the bus driver before closing the door in Rogue's face.

With a groan Rogue shifted her duffle bag on her should and dug through her pocket for her money.  It wasn't much, only $11.67 worth of money.  That was enough to get her some breakfast, maybe even something small for lunch but nothing extravagant.

Wandering around the streets, Rogue was busy looking for some place where she could get some late breakfast food.  She found a place, it was a small diner that looked something straight from the 1950s and brought into the future.

Easily enough Rogue wandered on inside the nearly deserted diner where there was a woman cleaning the counters, a teenaged boy cleared the tables, a couple sat by the window, an old man in the corner, and the smell of eggs, sausages, and bacon lingered tastefully in the air.

"May Ah help you?" asked the woman with the name 'Marian' on her badge, as Rogue sat at the counter.

"Yeah, what can Ah get for less than ten doll'rs?" Rogue inquired, setting her bag on the floor by her feet.

The woman smiled, she reminded Rogue of Irene except that this woman was not blind.  Speaking of Irene…that was another topic she would have to ponder on, but that was for another day and another time, not during breakfast.

"Here hon, take a look in here and Ah'll come back in a few minutes for yer order," she suggested, handing Rogue a menu.

It was a relief to Rogue to finally not have someone flinch away from her touch when she _was_ wearing gloves.  Just that simple action caused Rogue to smile gently at the woman before she went off to pick up a plate of food to give it to the old man in the corner.

Glancing over the menu Rogue immediately knew what she wanted, so with her free time she took the time to observe 'Marian'.  She was a woman of perhaps 40 or more years with red-grey hair, a contagious smile, and soft, friendly eyes.  Then the boy by her side was a redhead too with a lady-killer smile, probably the heart throb of his school.

_Her son?_ Rogue wondered briefly.

'Marian' came back to her.  "So, what'll it be hon?"

"Ah'll have a glass of orange juice an' a stack of pancakes," Rogue told the woman, handing back the menu.

"Okay then, anything else?" the woman inquired as she jotted down the order.

"No."

"It'll be right out," promised 'Marian', hanging up the order for the chief then getting Rogue her glass of orange juice.  Before she knew it there was a glass of orange juice sitting in front of her, teasing her dry throat.

"Thank ya," Rogue mumbled.

***

"But vhy vould she leave?  Ve're her family!" Kurt ranted to Amanda as they walked through the hallways.  "Vas it something I did?"

"Kurt you can blame yourself for what happened to Rogue, she probably has her reasons for going and she'll come back eventually because, just like you said, you guys are her family," Amanda explained in her calm, patient way that only she could do.

"She does, but she could have talked to me about her problems!" Kurt persisted as they entered their first hour class, Biology class.  "I vould've listened to her."

Amanda took her seat behind her boyfriend and leaned forward a bit.  "I know you would have Kurt, but we both know that if she had told you of her plans or her problems you would have told Professor Xavier or tried to stop her from leaving.  I'm sure Rogue knew that too," she pointed out, all comfort in her tone leaving.

The German's face fell in defeat as he sighed, "You're right, I jus' vish she had talked to someone…"

At this point Amanda took the opportunity to interrupt, "Maybe she did!"  Kurt turned around to face her with a perplexed expression.  Who would she have told?  "What about that one girl she was friends with?" suggested Kurt's girlfriend.

_Vho is she talking about?!  Rogue vasn't friends vith many people…could she mean Mystique?!_ Kurt thought.  "Do you mean Risty?" he swallowed and was about to groan when his girlfriend nodded.  "No, Risty hasn't been around lately."  _And hopefully never again, _he added as an after thought.

Kurt had never told Amanda about Mystique and how she used, lied to, and hurt Rogue, or that she was his mother.  He knew that someday he would be forced to tell her for the sake of their relationship and his own comfort, but that wasn't not today or tomorrow or next week, but someday.

"Oh," was her only response, but Kurt could feel her curious eyes upon his bent head.  She knew something was not quite right with that tale, but she was not one to pry into such matters.  "Well, how about that guy who had kidnapped her that one time?"

_That_ Kurt did tell her about, he needed to vent his chaotic emotions to someone after Rogue was safely returned and Amanda felt like the right person to turn to.  The thought of Rogue talking to that Cajun didn't quite seem to follow with her behavior towards him, which was usually on the edge of civility.

"She and he are not exactly on best…vait, maybe she did!" Kurt exclaimed as the teacher called the class to attention.  Giving Amanda a quick kiss on the cheek Kurt turned back around in his seat to pay only half attention to the teacher.

***

"Here ya go," Marian smiled as she set Rogue's plate of pancakes and syrup on the counter in front of the girl.

"Thank ya," Rogue smiled appreciatively and immediately began slicing her pancakes into bite sizes before drenching it in syrup.  The sugar in the syrup should last her for a while, at least until dinner.

Quietly Rogue sat at the counter eating, unaware that almost every eye in the diner was upon her, watching her with caution.  She didn't notice them until the teenaged boy came up to her side and tugged on Rogue's trademark trench coat, which she firmly believed the Cajun had stolen the idea from her.

Swallowing the bit of pancake in her mouth, Rogue turned to the teen who was now sitting beside her, starring at her in that searching manner that people do when they are about to ask a serious but embarrassing question-embarrassing for the person being asked that is.

"Yes?" she gulped.  Did the town's people already pinpoint her as a mutant due to her white streak?…best not to think about that token.

The kid continued to stare, gathering up all the courage he could muster before speaking.  "Are you a follower of Satan?"  His voice was innocent but it was just as curious and accusing, that it made Rogue almost want to glare at him yell out, "No, I'm not into Satanism".  However, Marian was the person to spare her from doing so.

"Timothy James Maxwell, don't you be rude!" scolded Marian, tossing the boy a rag.  "Apologize to the lady then go clean the bathrooms."

The teen, Timothy, muttered an apology then dashed off to the men's bathroom to clean it, and Rogue watched him go with her eyes before turning back to Marian who was blushing with embarrassment at her son's behavior.  When Timothy was safely in the bathroom she returned her attention to the gothic girl, wearing an apologetic smile.

"Ah'm so sorry about that, rumors have been spreadin' about these parts for a while now.  Rumors about this group of teens..." explained Marian in a low voice as Rogue went back to her food.

"Gothic kids?" Rogue finished before sipping her juice.

Ruefully, Marian nodded, another blush lightly spreading over her features.  Rogue watched the woman, knowing that there was more to these 'rumors' than what Marian was willing to tell.  Rogue could smell, curtsey of Sabertooth again.

Though Rogue could call upon Jean's powers at times she felt that it was dangerous for then she could lose control, and Rogue felt that it was an invasion of privacy to pry into someone else's mind without their knowing it.  So instead, Rogue went with the stare-hard-until-they-break tactic, it's worked on her in the past so maybe it would work on Marian.

The woman tried to ignore Rogue's ever-so-observant eyes but she finally broke.  "There's a group of kids, gothic kids-if you want to call them that-who have…" she paused for a moment to find the right word, "supernatural abilities."

Her mouth clenched, her back straightened, and her entire complexion darkened.  Slowly, Rogue questioned cautiously, "Do ya think Ah'm one of 'em?"  The possibly answer terrified Rogue.  What if they did think she was a mutant-though she was?  What if she met with the same prejudice she did back at Bayville High School?  This time without the other X-Men there to back her up?

Marian leaned forward a bit.  "Ya may dress the part hon, but ya don't look it," she assured in a hushed voice.

Relief washed over Rogue.  Was there any better feeling than the relief felt when one's worst fear was not realized?  Rogue would gladly argue with anyone who disagreed.

However, just because Marian didn't think Rogue was one of those groupie kids didn't mean that she felt completely comfortable.  _There are mutants here other than meh!_  The thought alarmed her causing her shift in her seat a bit while Marian went off to attend to the old man in the corner, whose eyes had yet to leave Rogue.

Returning to her food, Rogue ate in silence as well as everyone else in the diner, this time she was aware of the eyes staring at the back of her head and the smell of fear that clung to the air.

_Do Ah frighten everyone Ah meet?_ she wondered, downing the last of her orange juice when the diner bell rang clearly through the tense atmosphere.

**THANK YOU:  ishandahalf, Blowfish the Monkey Tamer (such a creative name), skye, and Silver Ink (silver ink is always good for writing on anything black).  Again, thank you all for your reviews!**


	3. The Offer

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

The bell rang and the sounds of laughter came from the door as, judging by the number of footsteps Rogue could hear, three people entered the diner. Not wanting to turn around Rogue glanced at the old man in the corner who had been eyeing Rogue earlier. His attention was no longer on Rogue, it was upon the newcomers and he was no longer just observing people, he was glaring at them.

_Why has everyone stopped talking?_ Rogue wondered, taking notice of the complete lack of sound in the diner. The silence made it easy for her to hear one of the new customers whisper amusedly, "Jumpy crowd, ain't they?"

Pretending to work out the kinks in her neck, Rogue turned her head slightly in the direction towards the door. There was indeed three people, teenagers no less, each were about her age, give or take a year.

One of them, the only boy, was chuckling to himself and Rogue deduced that had been him to make the crack about the other customers being a 'jumpy crowd'. He was a bit short and had unruly black hair that hung in front of his eyes. He seemed to be the only person truly amused by the silence of the diner. The other two were girls, one with fiery red hair that reminded Rogue of Jean's hair, and the other girl had midnight black hair that reflected blue when hit by light.

The trio sat down at a booth and immediately Marian went to attend to their orders.

"What can I get ya'all today?" she inquired.

The group smiled as the male took charge of ordering for the group. "Tessa will have a bowl of frog eggs and cow blood to drink," the guy listed off-handedly.

Rogue tried not to think about the order too much, but she heard quite a few other people gag a bit on their food.

"Theresa will have…mmh…let's see, a raw crocodile tail with newts on the side and snake skins to drink. And I'll have tape worm and fresh shrimp, uncleaned, with a snail intestine slushy," the guy finished.

_Snail intestine slushy, appetizing,_ Rogue thought suddenly not hungry for her pancakes anymore.

Marian took the orders with a straight face and returned to counter, handing the note to the back for the chief. "Kids an' their imaginations," she muttered.

"Are those 'the kids'?" Rogue asked in a soft voice as everyone else in the diner returned to quieter conversations.

"That's only some of them, and they're skipping school again, as usual," Marian nodded, casting a scolding glance at the kids in black.

So she was right, they were high schoolers like herself. "Do they always come here when they're not at school?" Rogue inquired, pushing her plate away.

"Only for food, but most of the time they go somewhere else to 'chill'," Marian told her as she took the plate away. "Sorry that they made ya lose yer appetite."

"It's okay, Ah was full anyways," Rogue lied. "So, why ain't yer son at school?"

"In-service for the junior high," Marian replied, getting the meaning of Rogue's question. "I would never let Timothy skip school just to work; it would be immoral in my opinion."

"Oh." Marian grabbed two plates to place on her tray, one had scrabbled eggs with hash browns on the side and another with steak and eggs. "How do you know what to get them?" asked the southerner as she eyed the food.

"Easy, they always order the same thing everyday they're in here," Marian smiled as she place a bowl of fruit and three different glasses of juice on the tray. Before picking up the tray Marian had cast a glance at the occupied booth. "Looks like Sydney has his eye on ya. Don't pay him any heed an' he ought to go away, if he does approach."

Rogue just sighed after Marian left to serve the kids their food; it was not that odd that some guy would take notice of her. _Cody had liked you,_ a thought, not her own, had pointed out to Rogue.

Marian set each dish of food in front of the respected person. When she served Sydney his food he grabbed her hand and asked, "Hey Marian, who's that girl at the counter?"

"I wouldn't know, she just came in today, but I wouldn't try anything if I were you," she warned him before leaving.

"On the rebound already Morph?" Theresa commented, digging into her scrambled eggs.

"No, just…interested," he corrected, sliding out of the booth and making his way to Rogue. "Hi there," he greeted.

Rogue said nothing; she didn't even look at him as she pulled out her rupix cube and began twisting it around.

"I'm Sydney James, but you can call me Morph." Morph took a seat beside Rogue and watched her as she tried to solve the complex cube problem. "What's your name?" he asked.

"What's it to ya?" Rogue retorted.

"Well, normally I like to know the name of a pretty face," Morph shrugged, giving her a dimple grin as he reached out a hand to touch Rogue's cheek. Rogue noticed his action though and slapped Morph's hand away with her gloved hand.

"Don't touch meh," she growled.

Morph was affronted, what had he done to her that would warrant her growling at him. "Do I disgust you or som…" he was starting to ask.

"I jus' don' like bein' touched," Rogue quickly explained.

"Generally?" Morph raised an eyebrow as Rogue nodded. "Wow, must be a pain for your boyfriend when he wants to kiss you, eh?" he remarked offhandedly, though he was just trying to see if Rogue did have a boyfriend.

In return Rogue rolled her eyes and replied, "A boy would have to be insane to be mah boyfriend."

This answer pleased Morph greatly; it even made him advance a bit towards Rogue. "Well, I think I just make that profile," he muttered.

Rogue's eyes grew wide and she would have pushed Morph off the stool if he wasn't already pulled off of it.

"Morph that is no way to treat a lady you just met," came a Scottish accented voice that caused Morph to stiffen. "Now, go sit down and stay out of trouble."

"S…sure thing Lucas," nodded Morph as he got to his feet and went back to the booth where there was one other girl at the booth now, a blond who seemed like she should be a super model.

"I am sorry about that…" Lucas apologized to Rogue, flashing a grin, "Rogue."

Not about to be intimidated by Lucas' knowledge of her name Rogue just stared at him in an amused manner. "No need to apologize as long as your lackey over there doesn't try anything on me again."

"I'll tell him just that," Lucas assured with a smirk as he left her.

Turning back to the counter Rogue sighed, _A telepath, that's always fun._

"Your total is $9.35," Marian told Rogue, snapping the girl out of her thoughts.

Startled, Rogue took a moment to understand what exactly Marian said before pulling out her wad of cash. All her money was singles and each one was crumbled from when she just shoved it into her pocket the night before.

As she counted out the money she owed Rogue didn't notice Marian's raised brow.

"Hon, come with me for a moment," Marian whispered to her, motioning to the kitchen.

Taken off guard again, Rogue numbly nodded and picked up her duffle bag, she didn't want anyone from the booth getting noisy and start picking through her stuff. That was the last thing she needed.

In the kitchen Marian glanced around for sight of her chief, but he was outside on a cigarette break so they were all alone.

"Hon, where are ya from?" was the immediate question.

"I don' know where Ah was born," Rogue answered honestly.

"No, before ya came here," clarified the woman.

Rogue bit her lower lip for a moment, was she caught already? "Westchester, New York."

"Did ya run away?" The question was voiced completely straight forward and in a stern tone.

Was it that obvious?! Rogue had hoped that it wasn't but apparently Marian wasn't being fooled. How was Rogue supposed to answer such a question? Yes, could possibly get her sent back to the X-mansion. No, would mean she was lying and Rogue was never a good liar to begin with, it was always her tone or expression that gave her away.

Marian didn't need a confirmation it seemed for she sighed ruefully.

"Don' try to send or take mah back, please," Rogue appealed to her. "Ah need time to think, space to…breath."

"Family problems," Marian assumed.

"Ah wasn't livin' with meh family, only at a boarding house of sorts," Rogue corrected. There was no way she was going to come right and say, 'Actually Ah live in a mansion with a bunch of mutants'.

There seemed to be an expression of relief washing over Marian as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Are yer supervisors aware ya're gone?"

"Ah left 'em a note explainin' mehself," she nodded getting the sense that the interrogation was leading to something completely different.

"Do ya know where ya're stayin' at?"

Rogue pulled a bit at her hair as she muttered, "Ah kind of left with a very half-baked plan." When the Cajun had kidnapped her and convinced her to 'runaway' with him there was a plan on the Cajun's half, whereas Rogue didn't have a real plan at the moment.

The look in Marian's eyes made it appear as though she was laughing. "Okay, I'll make a deal with ya. My son is at school for most of the day and usually has something goin' on at night. If ya work here for me, I'll let ya stay with us."

Whatever powers that may be seemed have decided to smile upon Rogue at that moment, but Rogue wasn't about to go jumping at the offer without being at least a little cautious about it. "Really?" she inquired.

"Really," smiled Marian. "Do we have a deal?"

Rogue thought about it. _Ah'd__ have a place to stay and not have to live on the streets like a pauper, plus Ah would have a job to keep mah occupied while Ah thought. Still, Ah'd be intrudin' into their lives without their knowin' of meh powers, what if Ah accidentally touch Marian or Timothy? How would Ah explain that?! Yet, if Ah stay covered an' maybe warn 'em not to touch mah under any circumstances…but if Ah lose control again, what then? It's not as though Ah have the Prof to help mah build another wall…that can be torn down again,_ Rogue sighed._ Am Ah really willin' to risk it? Ah mean Ah can be helpful to Marian without havin' to use mah powers or fight off other mutants, unless Lucas' lackeys decide something, but he looks too smart to start anything for now._

"Yeah," Rogue barely heard herself say.

"Good, we'll start ya tomorrow," Marian grinned, clapping a hand on Rogue's shoulder.

Knowing that most of the time word agreements were worthless and most of the time one half of the partnership, mainly the half that held the advantage, could withdraw from the agreement Rogue suggested that they write the negotiation down.

"If that'll make ya feel more comfortable about it than sure, we can write it down tonight, at home," Marian nodded. "In the meantime, you can sit at the counter and perhaps help me every once in a while until my lunch break. I have some other questions to ask you."

The higher powers seemed to have withdrawn and left Rogue with a queasy feeling in her stomach. Other questions was never a good sign, or at least usually wasn't a good sign.

"O…Okay," gulped Rogue following Marian back out into the diner.

Taking her seat at the counter again, Rogue pulled out the frustrating rubix cube and thought, _What__ have Ah done?_

**Thank you ishandahalf and Louc S. Swarm for reviewing.**


	4. Accusations

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

Ten seconds left. Now five. Now one…BRING! Yes, the bell finally rang, ending the school day and announcing Kurt's freedom. Taking no extra time to leave the classroom, not even to speak to Amanda, he needed to talk to someone.

Outside the school Remy waited, crushing what had remained of his cigarette under his boot. He could not quite place his reason for wasting his one day off by lurking around Bayville High School, just watching the students leave. No, he couldn't completely lie on that account, he was waiting for someone. To be more precise he was in fact waiting for Rogue, much like how he would when he had the time.

The girl was the saddest girl that Remy had ever come across and although he had tried to cheer her up by taking her to New Orleans, while also acquiring her assistance in the search for his father, Remy doubted that Rogue had fully recovered.

The smell hit him first, the awful smell of brimstone alerted Remy of the presence of Rogue's younger brother, Kurt Wagner.

"Vhere is she?" Kurt hissed before trying to attack Remy from behind. However, much to Kurt's dismay, Remy stepped aside easily, avoiding the attack, but before Remy could react to Kurt's attack the Elf vanished.

Remy knew that with the cloud of blue smoke clouding around him, he could not pinpoint where Kurt had bamfed to.

"Vhere is she?" Kurt repeated pushing Remy from behind and into the ground.

"Hey now, I don' know who you mean," Remy grumbled as he got back to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Rogue, vhere is she?" Kurt clarified, glaring at the Cajun in front of him.

Remy shook his head a bit, he already knew the question. "You lost me, Rogue was wit you all last time I checked."

"Vell, now she's not. She ran avay last night and you know vhere," accused Kurt, poking Remy in the chest. Although Remy knew that the Elf was angry and trying to be intimidating, Remy couldn't see it; maybe it was because Kurt still had that hologram on.

"I know no such t'ing, you are barkin' up de wrong tree," Remy claimed, holding up his hands in a sign of innocence. _She's run away?_

Apparently, Kurt did not believe him and he was not about to let the Cajun off the hook. "Vhat did you do with her?!" Kurt persisted.

Letting out a frustrated sigh Remy pleaded his case with a patient voice, even though he did not feel as though he had the patience anymore. "I did not'ing to her. If Rogue has run away, like you say, den she had done it on her own, and without my intervention." This was just dandy, he kidnapped the girl once and suddenly anytime she goes missing he is to blame.

Kurt seemed to have gotten the hint now and his expression fell into one of defeat. "You didn't know about it either?"

"Not until you jus' told me," confirmed Remy. _Now dat _dat_ is all cleared up let's find some information about her whereabouts._

Kurt groaned in disappointment, he was counting on Remy knowing where Rogue was so much.

"When did she leave?" the Cajun inquired off handedly. There was no reason to give the Elf any notation that Remy was actually _interested_ in Rogue's whereabouts, right? After all, the number one and two objections would end up being, 'it's none of your business?' if Remy gave any sign of interest.

Starring at the ground Kurt just shrugged, "Sometime last night. She only left a note."

_Cherie leaving in de night does not help much, but perhaps dis note might,_ Gambit thought. "What did dis note say exactly?" Playing off of loved one's emotional times is one of the keys to information, and one of the most effective, or so Remy had proved in the past.

The Elf began to back up slowly as he glared at Remy in suspicions. Okay, maybe playing off of people's emotions did not always work, but it had in the past.

"Zank you for…" Kurt searched for the word "confirming Rogue's lack of communication." With that said the German teenager bamfed away, leaving Remy in the dust, literally.

_Mmh, it seems that I need to find another source of information, but whom…?_ Remy wondered, glancing around at the late leaving students. _Who among dese…charmin' students would have any information about Rogue…_

As though an answer to Remy's thoughts, Kitty had exited the building with Amara at her side. The Cajun could not help but grin at his good fortune, Lady Luck was most definitely smiling upon him that day.

_Dat friend of hers might know somet'ing more,_ he shrugged. Placing his best confused expression on his face, Remy approached the two girls. Kitty had seen him though and was trying to make a run for it, but Amara was not having it, leaving an opportunity for Remy to cut in front of the girls.

"Ladies, bonjuer," he greeted, the French always made women weak.

"What do you, like, want?" Kitty inquired, not falling for the French, she had heard enough about the Cajun from Rogue to know that was only one of his ploys.

Stilling pretending to be baffled, Remy continued, "I was jus' wonderin' if you had seen Rogue at all t'day." It was a simple enough statement, but Remy knew that he had to think up an excuse quickly for that answer would not satisfy anyone.

"No, why?" Kitty questioned while Amara stood off to the side looking more or less down at her shoes or at the sky.

"I kind o' wanted to…talk to the Cherie t'day." It was a lie, but Remy was getting used to lying, although his talent for lying was rather limited.

"You mean kidnap her again," the girl spat out pointedly.

_Is dat what everyone assumes I'm goin' do to de Cherie if I'm left even one second alone wit her?!_ sighed Remy as he shook his head a bit. "Non, is dat all I'll ever be known for? Kidnappin' de Cherie?"

"Yeah well, like, she's gone alright so just leave us alone," Kitty retorted, grabbing Amara's wrist and dragging the other teen away. As normal though, Remy was not about to let it just drop like that, he pressed the matter.

"Where did the Cherie run to?" he asked.

"Like I would know," the girl stated.

"She doesn't want to be found," added Amara, only to receive a silencing glare from Kitty.

_Ah! Progress, nodded Remy with a hint of triumph._ "Ah, but I can," he pointed out, making Kitty abruptly stop and Amara nearly run into her. "That is, if I knew where to start lookin' for her though."

Kitty turned around and came right up to Gambit in what might have been an intimidating manner if Remy had not been a head, or more, taller than her. "Listen boy" poke in the chest "Rogue doesn't want any of us, including you" poke, poke "following her. So you" poke "just leave her alone!" commanded Kitty.

"Don' you want her back though?" Remy jibed.

Kitty closed her eyes for a moment and then gazed up at the Cajun with an intensity not normally found her eyes. "Yes, I want her back," she replied truthfully.

"Den why not let ole Remy find de girl an' bring her back?" he suggested that rewarded him with giggles from Amara and a snort of disbelief from Kitty. "Come on, I jus' need to know where she is."

With a sigh Kitty declared, "We don't know."

"Great," Remy sighed in irritation. How was he supposed to find the girl if he did not know where to begin?

Seeing the Cajun's defeated expression broke Kitty's resolve. "Tell you what, if we, like, find out where she is or something, I'll tell you," she promised. "Come on Amara."

The two girls left Remy starring after them with the largest, smug grin on his features. "Dank you love, dat was easier den I t'ought it would be," he muttered.

* * *

Marian pulled out the seat beside Rogue and plopped down upon it with a weary sigh; she must have been exhausted considering that the lunch hour decided to be the busiest time of the day. Rogue had just realized that most of the costumers that came into the diner were travelers looking for a place to grab a bite to eat and go to the bathroom.

"Okay hon, question time," Marian smiled.

Rogue nodded, she had been dreading this, even when she had taken that half hour nap in the booth off to the side. She was tired and so she just made herself comfortable in the booth until Timothy woke her up.

"Alright, what's your highest level of school education?" was question number one.

This surprised Rogue a bit, most of the time people ask 'what's your name kid' first, not 'what's your highest level of school education'. Either way, the question was still there and it was demanding to be answered.

"Ah dropped out this year, mah senior year," Rogue replied.

"Should I then assume that you're eighteen years of age or still underage?" grinned Marian as she assessed Rogue with a kin eye.

"Ah'm eighteen years old, so Ah'm legally an adult. Ah have mah license if ya would like proof," the girl offered playfully.

Marian laughed a bit, "Good you don't miss a beat. Now, have you ever worked as a waitress or even held a job before?"

Truth be told, Rogue never had time for a job in the past since being part of the X-Men team was a full-time job as it was. There was barely enough time for school and homework sometimes, but never time to hold a steady job or do real extra-curricular activities. _Unless ya were Jean,_ Rogue pointed out a bit sourly.

"No, Ah never had a job before. Life at the boardin' house didn't leave much time for us students to do exactly what we wanted most of the time," she answered honestly. "If ya're worried about mah effort, Ah can guarantee ya that Ah'll be givin' a hundred percent…"

"Oh I know that hon, for I'm the one providing you a home, but I don't expect a hundred percent effort _everyday_ for I know there will be days when you will be like 'why am I doing this? What am I doing here?' Trust me, I've been down that road many times in the past, so I know you cannot guarantee your efforts everyday," stated Marian. "Don't you worry though; Timothy and I can teach you the ropes of the trade."

"Thanks," Rogue smiled.

"No problem, but I must ask you one thing," she continued.

Rogue licked her lips for a moment. _Please don't ask meh if Ah'm a mutant, please don't!_ "Shoot."

"What's your name hon?" Marian inquired. "I mean I kind of had you figured for an Anna or a Morgan, or even a Marie. Am I right at all?"

Chuckling a bit, Rogue just shook her head as her mind though back to the inside jokes the other X-Men would share. "You will never be able to guess mah name, Marian," laughed Rogue.

Marian raised an eyebrow. "Then do tell for it must be quite a unique name."

"It's Rogue."

Now, normally when Rogue tells people her name people will just shake their heads and laugh lamely then ask 'no really, what's your name?' But Marian didn't do that, instead she just sat back and read Rogue's face.

"You're right," she finally spoke, "I would never have guessed. How did you come across the name?"

"Actually that's the only name I've ever known for me. You see Irene, the woman I lived almost all my life with, told me that that was my name. I don't know my real name," Rogue explained.

"Wow. Well, welcome aboard Rogue, and welcome into the family," Marian grinned, clapping a hand on Rogue's protected shoulder. "It's good to have you here already."

**Okay people, none of the 'new' characters were put into this story 'by accident'. I did not just pull the names out of a hat, I purposely put Lucas (yes, Xavier's son) into here, Sydney James (Morph) in because he's one of my favorite characters and I was so disappointed when he was never added into the X-Men Evolution series. Theresa Rourke (Siryn) and Tessa Niles (Sage) in because I never read or saw anything of those two in the comics, so I thought I would learn as much as possible about them as well, although Siryn was in the 2nd X-Men movie. Just thought you all would like an explanation.**


	5. A Request

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect.  **No** suing!  Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

**I'm finally back from exams, a nine day vacation, and I finally got passed writers block.  Everything is all well again, until the next chapter.**

That's all it had been?!  No questions on her past really, no questions of being involved in mutants, and the dreadful 'are you a mutant' question never came up!  Right now in Rogue's mind she was thinking Marian was one of the coolest people in the world.

_But,_ she reminded herself,_ that can easily be changed if Ah'm not careful with mah powers. _ Unconsciously Rogue glanced down at her gloved hands and all her doubts were returning to latch themselves to her mind.  _Ah'm goin' to have to be extra careful while Ah'm here, especially with that Lucas guy around..._

"That would be my school," Timothy stated, pointing to a small building that resembled a miniature prison, just without the bars on the windows.

Glancing at the prison like school, Rogue remembered why she had hated Bayville High School, other than the mutant-phobic people.  School was like a prison to Rogue, it kept her confided in its walls when she could be out doing things she wanted to do, not to mention things that could possibly have been more beneficial to her future.

"Charmin'," she commented dryly.

"If ya say so," snorted Timothy.  The boy was not enthused that his mother gave him the task of showing Rogue around the town, so that she wouldn't feel like such a stranger.

Turning around to show Rogue to the grocery store down the street, Timothy stopped short and decided that a different path might be best.

"Let's get out of here," he muttered as he turned back around sharply and began to speed walk away.

"Sure," Rogue shrugged but she could sense that something was off with Timothy.  Cocking her head slightly over her shoulder, Rogue saw what made Timothy rethink his original plan.  Quickly coming towards them was Lucas and most of his posse, save for one girl who was no where in sight.

"Ya know what Timothy," Rogue spoke up when she caught up with the kid, "let's go somewhere nearby to jus'…hang for a while."

"They're not going to stop following us until they get whatever they want," Timothy growled before he was cut off by the redhead.

"Hello there Timmy and…Rogue," she smiled.

"Hi," Rogue returned curtly, grabbing Timothy by the wrist she was about to drag him across the street, away from the group of mutants, but the redhead cut her off.

"Where are you two off to?" the girl inquired innocently.

"Theresa, I was just showing Rogue around the town so that…" Timothy answered by he was interrupted by Rogue's interjection.

"Away from you is where we're going, Theresa."  Rogue spoke politely but with her accent there was an added edge to her tone which caused Theresa to give her an amused, raised eyebrow that would have infuriated Rogue if Lucas had not stepped in.

"Theresa, why don't you take Timothy and suggest a few sights that our little Rogue should see," suggested Lucas, causing Rogue to veer around and glare at him.  Whatever it was that he wanted Rogue didn't want any part of it!

"Sure thing Lucas, let's _go _Timothy," Theresa insisted as she dragged the young teen away.

Rogue didn't bother to go after them but she did keep Timothy within her line of view, she just didn't trust these…people.  "What do ya want from meh?"

An amused, slightly twisted grin curled on Lucas' face as he approached her holding up his hands in a sign of peace.  "I have only a request for you," he stated with his strong Scottish accent.

That was it?!  A request?!  That was all they had been after as they had stalked her and Timothy?!  It made Rogue close her eyes and roll them, she had thought it might have been something more along the lines of 'We wish to talk to you mutant' or 'Join our band to defeat the non-mutants' something to warrant the stalking.

"Well, what's this 'request' of yours?" she sighed while thinking, _This had better be good_!

"_We_ would like you to become one of us."

_Well, Ah guess Ah was right about what they were goin' ask meh,_ Rogue commented as she gawked at the three that stood before; Tessa with a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth and Morph with a hopeful expression on his face.

Recovering herself, Rogue gave the group a cold glare that stated all her suspicions and doubts about this offer and their intentions.  However, for some reason Rogue felt that Lucas already knew her doubts about his offer and that he was ready with assurance.

"We are not requesting you to join some sort of…cult like the KKK," Lucas assured, flashing Rogue that smile that only a Scottish guy like him could pull off.  Not even that Cajun, Gambit, could pull off such a smile if he tried.

"Then what exactly are ya offerin' meh?" demanded Rogue, crossing her arms and shifting her weight more to her left leg so that her right hip popped out a bit.

"We're just offering a chance to…explore yourself more carefully and with our..." the Scott paused for a moment as he searched for the right word, "assistance."

The southern belles' eyes narrowed at him, her eyes searching for something but apparently she was having no luck finding it for she sighed and shook her head.  Rogue had been searching for some sort of sign that Lucas knew that she was a mutant despite the fact that it was the furthest thought on her mind, but he didn't seem to _know_, only suspected.

"Just what do ya think Ah am that Ah would need your 'assistance'?" Rogue challenged, raising an eyebrow at the three.

Morph bit his lip and made the nervous expression that clearly stated that he thought that the group was wrong in their thinking, whatever their line of thinking was.  However, the girl, Tessa, and Lucas remained perfectly calm, if not just a bit smug as though they were sharing a private joke with each other.

_Telepaths can be such a pain sometimes,_ Rogue thought as she waited for their reply.

"You know what we think you are, one of us," Tessa spoke up, which actually surprised Rogue for a moment.  Throughout the entire conversation Rogue had thought that the girl was incapable of speech.

"Really?  Well, if ya know what Ah think than ya should know mah answer is no," snapped the Mississippian, her accent shining through more clearly than earlier.

"Now Rogue, you have not fully considered the benefits of this offer," Tessa continued, taking a step towards Rogue but stopped when Rogue took a step back.  "Perhaps if you took some time to think about our request than you can make a more solidified resolution."

"Ah don' need time ta think about it, Ah don' need your help about anything!  Now, just leave meh alone an' keep your lackey away from meh too," denied Rogue before turning on her heels and stalking off towards Theresa and Timothy.

Behind Rogue, Lucas nodded to Morph and the boy chased after Rogue until he was walking right beside her.  "Hey!" he called out while waving his arms to catch the southern girl's attention.  "Would you stop power walking and just hear me out for a moment?!"

"Ah said leave meh alone!" repeated Rogue.  How many times did she have to say that before they actually left her to play out her life?  A life that was more than likely to end in misery due to her curse.

Doing the only thing he knew to slow Rogue down, Morph grabbed Rogue's arm and it rewarded him with two reactions.  Reaction one was the desired one, Rogue coming to a sudden halt, and reaction two, not desired, was Rogue's death glare.

Quickly removing his hand as though it was just burnt, Morph held up his hands in peace.  "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier in the diner but I wasn't lying so I'm not completely sorry about my words, but I _am_ sorry for bothering you," he began.

"Don' tell meh that ya came chasin' meh to just tell meh that," Rogue groaned, rolling her eyes in annoyance.  Didn't the boy have anything better to do than annoy her?

"Hey I wasn't done yet!" protested Morph with a sigh.  "I know you have no real reason to trust any of us but please take the offer to just think about this proposal."  The reaction was immediate; Rogue scoffed, turned her head, and rolled her eyes in exasperation.  "Hey, I'm serious, Lucas is not the kind of guy you normally say 'no' to, but if you say that you'll think about it than at least you're paying yourself some time to the hell out of here."

Get out of there?!  _Oh no, not after the trouble Ah went through to get a job, a place to crash, and escape the mansion.  Ah'm _not_ leavin' just because some guy wants meh to join his groupie!_ she thought determinedly.  "Ah'm not goin' anywhere," Rogue hissed at Morph.

"Then just join because Lucas isn't going to give up until you give in," Morph whispered.

Rogue paused for a moment, "Are ya threatenin' meh?"

"No, simply stating a fact.  So please, just say you'll think about it.  Please," implored Morph.

Closing her eyes in deliberation Rogue went through the pros and cons of the situation.  If she said 'yes' then Lucas and his lackeys would leave her be for the most part, except when they come looking for an answer.  If she said 'no' they would hound her and try to break her down most likely, not something she needed when she just got into town.  If she joined the group then it would be like back at the mansion and that was the last thing Rogue wanted, another X-Men like group.

"Fine, Ah'll think about it," Rogue sighed but noted the look of relief that spread throughout Morph's features.  "But, Ah tell ya guys when Ah've made up mah mind, Ah don' want ya hounding meh for an answer.  Got that?"

Nervously Morph nodded.

"Good, now leave meh an' Timothy alone," Rogue commanded before continuing towards Timothy and Theresa.  "Oh an' Morph," Morph stopped in his tracks as he was heading back to Lucas, "you're forgiven."

The grin on Morph's face was one that reminded Rogue a bit of Sam's but she pushed the thought aside and rejoined Timothy, silently shooing Theresa away.

"So what did they say to you?" inquired Timothy in a low voice.

"They wanted meh to join their little club, but Ah told them Ah'd think about it," she answered and was rewarded with a stunned stared.  "Of course Ah don't plan on joinin' their groupie at all but it'll keep them off mah back for a while."

Swallowing hard Timothy nodded, "Good thinking."

"I hope so."


	6. Dinner

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

Well, this was different for Rogue, sitting at a dinner table that didn't hold seventeen people and with one extra chair where Evan used to sit. It was just Marian, Timothy, and her sitting at the circular table sitting dinner; chili, bread, and soda.

It was a quiet dinner, nothing like back at the mansion where everything was loud as the entire household broke into conversation with the people around them. Conversations that Rogue had, for the most part, not bothered to take part in unless Kurt or Kitty began to talk with her.

"How's the chili Rogue, not too hot Ah hope," Marian inquired, blowing on her spoonful.

"Nah, not at all," assured Rogue. "Besides, Ah like mah food hot."

There was an understanding, sort of respected grin that spread across Marian's face before she took a bite. Rogue couldn't help but feel accepted and grateful for her taste for spicy foods.

"So what was it like, living in New York?" Timothy spoke up, trying to act like he wasn't really interested.

"It was…" Rogue paused for a moment to think of the correct adjective to use, "interesting, but that could have been because of the people that Ah lived with."

"Oh yes the boarding house," Marian interjected softly. "Ah guess things there were quite different from what you have to put up with here."

To put up with?! Rogue was actually enjoying herself with this quieter but with reasonable conversation dinner. If she was giving off the impression to the contrary, well then she was going to have to set things straight.

"No, this is much better, less people an' less noise then back in New York," Rogue assured, pulled her glove tighter so that it wouldn't dip into her food.

Noticing the girl's continuance problem with her gloves Marian suggested, "Why don't you take those gloves off if they're getting in your way? You can always put them back on after dinner if you feel the need to."

Rogue stiffed in her seat for a moment and dropped her spoon.

_Take off mah gloves?_ She glanced down at her hands for a moment. _Well, we are eatin' so no one should really touch mah hands an' she did say that Ah could put them back on afterwards. Still there is always that odd chance that someone could touch me…Maybe if Ah just keep mah hands as far away from Marian an' Timothy Ah can get past dinner without sendin' someone into unconciousness or a coma._

Cautiously, Rogue removed one glove at a time, revealing her silver sterling rings that she hid under those leather covers.

It felt almost like a relief to give her hands the ability to breath from having been stuck underneath all that leather for almost a day. She decided to let her hands breath for a couple of minutes before she would have to cover them back up.

"What's up with those things anyways?" Timothy asked, gesturing to the gloves. "Do you have some sort of temperature problem or something?"

"Timothy!" cried out Marian, giving her son a warning kick under the table.

"Ah actually do have a skin disease," lied Rogue. _May as well keep up that lie that Irene had composed for meh,_ she thought with exasperation.

"Really?"

"Timothy…"

"Is it contagious?"

"Timothy James Maxwell!"

"What?" the son replied innocently, but he knew he crossed some sort of respect line.

Marian calmed but firmly told Timothy, "Get to your homework."

There seemed to be a silent understanding that passed between mother and son as Timothy nodded his head. "Can Ah take my bowl with me though? Ah'm still eating and all, besides you know how Ah hate to let good food go to waste," he implored.

"Sure, jus' don't you dare spill on your carpet," warned Marian as her son got up to head to his room with his leftover dinner.

Once Timothy's door was shut, Marian turned to Rogue with an apologetic expression. "Ah am so sorry about that, Timothy lets his mouth run away without his brain half of the time."

"It's okay," assured Rogue, picking at her food. "It was a legitimate question with the answer 'no'."

The older woman raised an eyebrow at Rogue then returned to her food.

"Ah half expected that you may have been making up that disease thing as an excuse to cover the real reason why you wear those gloves of yours," Marian admitted, finishing off her chili and downing the last of her soda.

For another moment Rogue sat there stunned. How was it that this woman, who had only known Rogue for a few hours, read her so well, or at least better than anyone else? It amazed Rogue so much.

"You don't have to deny or assure me of it, you just let out some unconscious habits that tell me your lies," Marian explained, getting up and placing her dishes in the sink.

"What habits?" questioned Rogue. _How would she know what my habits are?_

"They're simple habits really, like the unconscious tightening grip, the look to the left, and the biting of the lower lip. You like to tighten your grip a lot, which Ah noticed you do that when you're in an uneasy position or lying," answered the older woman.

Rogue was mesmerized completely by Marian's people reading skills. Not even Logan or the Prof with all their mutant abilities could read her so well and see right through her lies then question her face to face. No, they let her deal with her angst and emotional problems by herself, but then again she never asked them for help.

"W-wow," stammered the girl in amazement, "where did ya learn to read people so well?"

Marian turned to Rogue and almost appeared to be about ten years younger as she leaned against the counter with a dreamy grin on her face. "My husband, who was a psychology teacher at the high school."

"Was?"

Just as quickly that Marian seemed younger did she revert back to her normal-self but this time more depressed.

"That is a story for a later day when we actually know each other better and are no longer strangers with an arrangement," Marian stated but sobered up hurriedly. "Well, why don't you finish your dinner and then we'll get you set up on the couch."

"Okay," nodded Rogue, feeling as though she had stumbled upon a sensitive subject about Marian's husband. _Where is this guy if he's Timothy's father an' is still Marian's husband?_

* * *

Kitty had been starring up at her ceiling for that last three hours, trying to fall asleep but failing miserably since her eyes kept unconsciously sliding over to Rogue's empty bed.

"I need a glass of milk, that should get me to sleep," Kitty decided as she pulled herself out of bed.

As she tip-toed down the halls, Kitty couldn't help but glance into every open room for any sign that her friend may have returned home…_This was her home, wasn't it?_ Kitty wondered while passing Kurt's room. _I wonder how he's holding up._

Not wishing to disturb the fuzzy Elf, Kitty continued down the hall then down the stairs to the kitchen where, to her surprise, she found Kurt sitting at the table with a glass of milk.

"Hey," she greeted as to announce her presence in the room.

"Hey," Kurt replied emotionlessly, not even aware that Kitty had taken a seat across from him.

"Mind if I have a sip?" Kitty inquired, gesturing to the glass of milk. Without a second thought, Kurt pushed the glass towards Kitty and pointedly ignored her.

Taking a sip of milk, Kitty watched Kurt and knew that he had a lot of pent up emotion in him that would sooner or later spill out for her ears alone to hear. All Kitty had to do was restrain herself from coaxing Kurt to share.

It took less time than what Kitty had expected for Kurt sat back and sighed in frustration.

"I jus' don't get it you know. I mean Amanda has given me reasons as to vhy she may have left but I still don't get vhy Rogue left. Vas it something that I did or didn't do?" Kurt demanded.

"I don't think it was any of us but I wish I knew for certain," Kitty replied truthfully.

"Plus, vhat if she is in danger right now and ve're all sitting here thinking that she's all vell? Vhat if she is being raped or something…" ranted the Elf.

Kitty felt the need to interrupt at that moment, "Kurt, if Rogue was being raped Cerebro would have detected her powers and pin pointed her location. So, rape is out of the question."

Feeling that Kurt need some comfort Kitty placed her hand on his but Kurt quickly retracted his three-fingered hand and stood up, pacing. He was still venting apparently.

"She could have at least vent to the Professor or to Logan if she needed to talk about something," Kurt continued, his tail whipping around dangerously back and forth.

"Kurt, sit down and listen to me for a moment," commanded Kitty, pointing at the chair across from her.

Hearing that threatening tone in his fellow mutant's voice, Kurt quickly sat down but his feet were not to be banished, so he jiggled his legs underneath the table.

"Now," Kitty began seriously, "Rogue has never been the sort of person who went to others to talk about her problems and feelings, not even to Logan. So, there is no possible way that she would have turned to Logan or the Professor. She would never have turned to me or you unless we approached her first, and that would have only happened if we had known that something was wrong."

Kurt just sat there, now completely still, and starred hard at his friend. Unfortunately, he knew that Kitty was right, his sister had the habit of being well reserved and did not open up to people unless someone pressed their luck.

"Do you understand what I'm saying, Kurt?" Kitty asked her voice full of concern.

"Va," nodded Kurt, bowing his head in defeat.

Getting up, Kitty walked around the table and stood behind the Elf. Bending down, Kitty gave Kurt a comforting hug and kissed him on the cheek which rewarded her with an absent pat on the arm.

"We're not going to stop looking for her Kurt, I promise you that," whispered Kitty. "We better get to bed, we still have school tomorrow."

"I'll be right up," Kurt told her.

"Okay," smiled Kitty. "Night Kurt."

"Night," Kurt sighed as he watched his friend leave, "Kitty."


	7. The Deal

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

"Charles, we need to talk," Ororo stated as she entered the room where Professor Xavier sat in his wheel chair starring out the window at the activity-or lack therefore of-taking place below.

"About Rogue?" he assumed with a sigh. Xavier had been expecting Logan or Ororo to bring the topic up with him, but he had wished that he was more prepared for it than what he was.

"I feel that some of the students may be taking her disappearance harder than others…" she started but then paused for she didn't wish to point out names aloud.

"Ah yes, and you believe that we should have a sort of council session with them?" Xavier finished after having read Ororo's mind. "The one thing you remember Ororo is that not all the students are being affected by Rogue being gone. Granted, Kurt and Kitty are taking it very hard but the others are not taking it in the same way. Take Jean and Scott for example, they have continued on with their daily activities as though it was nothing…"

"That is what I'm afraid of Charles, is that they will all be so…" she paused to find the correct word, "comfortable without her around that when or if she does return they will no longer know how to handle her."

"Like they had any idea before," grunted Logan from the doorway. "Sorry to interrupting Prof. but I couldn't help overhearing the conversation."

Xavier nodded, spinning around in his chair to stare at his first two allies. "That is quite alright Logan; we would need your opinion and advice on this matter sooner or later anyways."

"All I'm trying to say is that most of these kids probably are better off without Rogue but as for half pint and the elf…they could need someone to talk. However, I personally don't think we should intervene unless we have information on Rogue," Logan replied and Ororo was about to make an argument. "Trust me Stormy, Charles here has been keeping up a search for Rogue on Cerebro so that the moment she used her powers we could know where she is."

The Weather Witch stared in shock at Wolverine then turned to her mentor and friend. "Is this true Professor?" she questioned.

"It is," sighed Professor Xavier looking a bit guilty. "I wished to know where she is so that in case we ever _would_ need to call upon her assistance we could."

"Are you sure that's the only reason Charles?" Logan inquired scrutinizing the Professor and listening carefully for any irregularity in his pulse.

"Yes Logan, it is my only reason. As you had suggested the day we first discussed about her runaway, I plan to leave her be and let her sort out whatever it is. I will not interfere with her life unless we need her," he promised.

"So zat's vhat you plan to do? Jus' leave her out zere vithout our protection and help?!" Kurt demanded from the doorway, hanging upside down by his tail. "You've been tracking her and you didn't tell me?!"

Ororo approached the angered teen to calm him down so that he could listen to reason but Xavier mentally stopped her.

"Kurt, I did not wish to worry you any further by telling you that I do have Cerebro on a search for her should Rogue decide to use her powers," explained the Professor calmly.

"Zen vhy didn't you tell me earlier?" Kurt inquired, his anger simmering down slowly.

Logan took the head of the explanation. "Look here elf, Rogue obviously does not want us to go after her and as much as I know that she means a lot to you, you must respect that." Kurt nodded numbly. "Now, should Cerebro ever be found we will tell you as long as you promise not to chase after her on your own," bargained Logan only making Charles try to catch his thoughts.

_Logan__, what are you doing?_ Xavier demanded.

_Giving the kid some assurance Charles, he needs it bad right now,_ answered Wolverine.

"Are you serious? You vill actually tell me vhen you find her vhere she is?" the German questioned in uncertainty.

"Promise," grinned Logan and that was enough to make Kurt feel comfortable with the situation and willingly leave for school, he was going to be late again.

Once the boy was gone Ororo glared sternly at Logan, but he just ignored her. "Was that a wise thing to do? Put the boy's hopes up only to disappoint him later?" she pointed out.

"He's not going to be disappointed because we are going to tell him, and I'll make sure he doesn't go after Rogue," Logan volunteered. "Charles, tell me where she is as soon as you know."

Knowing that it was pointless to argue with Logan when he had his mind set on something, Xavier agreed. "I will."

* * *

It was probably the first time in a long time that Rogue had ever woke up that early without having to press 'SNOOZE' on the alarm clock. She woke up, took a shower, changed into her other trademark clothes; dark purple, off the shoulders shirt and ripped pants.

When Rogue exited the bathroom she ran right into a tired Marian, who brightened at the sight of Rogue. They had exchanged simple morning Q&As before going on with their morning routines.

Timothy was seen off to school by Marian, kisses and hugs galore. It actually made Rogue a bit envious and only served to remind her how she can't be kissed by anyone, even hugging someone would have to be done with caution.

That was how the very early morning went, which brought Rogue up to the point where she was talking with Marian about the table numbers.

"Okay, there are very limited tables here as ya see," Marian explained. "So, ya shouldn't have too hard a time handling twelve tables." At Rogue's wide, fear-filled eyes Marian quickly added, "They are never all taken so ya shouldn't have to handle anymore than maybe seven or eight at one time."

Sighing in relief, Rogue wiped her brow to show just how relieved she was.

"Now the table numbering is very easy, just think of it as a snake. First number starts at the booth against the wall nearest to the bathrooms then continues all the way to the window an' comes back down. Easy right?" Marian continued.

"So," Rogue began, pointing at the first booth by the bathrooms, "this booth here would be table one then this table here would be table number eight?"

"Exactly," nodded the older woman. "Now, as for the menu, abbreviate as much as possible as long as it's still readable for Joe in the kitchen. As for the prices ya can jus' look up the prices in your free time while waiting to deliver the food, but if ya feel that ya can't do it, tell me and Ah'll take over your tables so that ya can finish up, okay?"

"Sure…Marian," Rogue spoke up, "are you always this kind to your employees?"

Marian chuckled a bit as she and Rogue began to set down the chairs. "Well, to be completely honest with ya," she started, "you're the first person Ah've ever hired. In the past it was just Timothy, my brother-in-law Joe, and Ah working this diner."

"Wow," was all Rogue found that she could say.

"Yeah, so this will be an interesting learning experience for the both of us," laughed Marian. "Now may Ah ask you something?"

With the comfort that Rogue felt around Marian she didn't feel the need to fear anything that the older woman would have to ask about.

"Go ahead."

"How did ya get that white stripe in your hair?"

It was a very good and valid question to inquire about but the problem was that Rogue could barely remember herself. All she knew was that she was thirteen when it happened and before she had ever known what a mutant was she had already encountered one. It was a young kid that lived across the street in an abusive family and his only form of retaliation was by projecting illusions of fear to his parents.

One day the screams were so horrible that Irene had sent Rogue into the house to retrieve the kid but only to find that it was parents who were screaming. Both husband and wife were cowering in corners of the living room with their child sitting calmly on the couch.

From the point that Rogue had entered the living room to waking up in a hospital bed was all a blank to Rogue. She couldn't remember anything except that now she had this thick streak of permanently white hair.

"Well, you know how the theory that if something happens to you where you are completely fear stricken and your hair can turn white?" Rogue questioned back.

"Yeah," assured Marian.

"Something happened to meh about five years ago where Ah got completely terrified that it turn a streak of mah hair completely white," she answered, keeping her head down as though in embarrassment.

Suddenly, Rogue sensed Marian read to reach out a hand to her shoulder and Rogue began to panic.

"Of course that was a long time ago and it no longer bothers meh too much," the teen reassured hurriedly, turning to Marian so that her bare hand didn't touch the mutant's skin.

"That's good to hear, it's never good to linger on things that are in the past and that ya could not prevent. Ya just have to learn to deal with all that comes your way," Marian smiled before leaving Rogue to check the food in the kitchen.

_Deal with all that comes mah way?_ repeated Rogue in her mind. _What have Ah actually took control of in mah life since the discovery of mah mutant curse? Have Ah actually dealt with anything?_

Rogue seriously couldn't think of the last situation in her life that had affected her in any form that she had taken the time to sort out, unlike her white streak. That took a good month and a half out of her to just live with the memory and the significance of the stripe. So, what did she have to deal with in her life?


	8. The Accident

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

Who would have thought that Rogue would have been able to survive a week-yes, a whole week!-without anyone-that's right, _anyone_-touching her skin?! Certainly not Rogue, she thought that by the third day someone would have touched her and her little secret would be out, but it hadn't happened.

That and there was even more good news to go with that, Lucas and his posse didn't bother her in the least. No one stalked her, no one came up to her making threats or 'persuasive' speeches, nada. So naturally, Rogue was feeling fairly lucky but she knew that as soon as that feeling rose it came crashing down as well.

Unfortunately, there were no exceptions to that rule in Rogue's life.

It was the afternoon on a Thursday and Marian had sent Rogue out to intercept Timothy outside his school to tell him that they needed his help because there was an unexpectedly large crowd. Normally, in such cases, most families would have used the cell phone given to their child but Marian didn't make that kind of money for a cell phone and Timothy didn't have much use for it due to his lack of friends at school.

So, there was Rogue, waiting outside the junior high school for the young teen. It wasn't the prison-like school that made her uneasy but rather the school behind it, the high school that caused her to squirm a bit.

Despite the fact that apparently the Lucas groupies had decided to go to school that day, Rogue couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, one or two of them had decided to ditch class like she had several times in the past. Seriously, what if she ran into one of them and he or she kept pushing Rogue to make a decision on the spot? Well, of course Rogue would tell them to back off but what if they touched her?

_Or what if Timothy saw one of them touch meh?_ Rogue thought as the idea sent chills up her spine.

"Boo!"

"Ah!" Rogue cried out as she jumped a bit. Under normal circumstances Rogue would never have jumped like that but she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she completely spaced out until that 'boo' was whispered in her ear.

Spinning around Rogue found herself standing in front of a forty-something year old guy that was balding and wearing an outdated suite from the 70s.

_Is this guy a pervert or a drunk?_ wondered Rogue as she began to distant herself away from the man. "Uh…sir, are you okay?"

"Aw, is that all you have to say to me? Jeez, I expected a little better from you Rogue, like maybe a 'what do you want?' or something like 'wow Morph, you're so cool!'," came Morph's voice from the middle-aged man's mouth.

_He's a shape shifter?_ Rogue questioned as she raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Morph?"

"Yeah that's my name don't wear it out, unless you want to buy me a new name," the man nodded.

"You look…different," Rogue noted, "a little _older_ and _balder_."

There was a questioning expression on the older man's face until he looked down at himself. "Oh! Oh, this! Naw, this isn't me it's just my principle, the prick. I had to do something to get out of detention so I changed into the principle and cut out of school early," Morph explained as he melted into himself. "So, what are you doing here, I would have you figured for a high school student."

Rogue glared at the kid, "Ah dropped out late in mah senior year this year."

There was a disappointed look that crossed Morph's face then it turned into one of playful scrutiny as he eyed her.

"Really, or are you making this up to impress me?" he questioned.

There was another glare directed at the shape shifter. "Why would Ah feel the need to 'impress' _you_?" she challenged, turning her back to Morph to watch the teens exit the school.

"I don't know, maybe because you would like to make a junior like me think that you are a major 'big, bad senior'," shrugged Morph lamely noticing a fly on Rogue's bare shoulder. "Don't move."

Not having heard what Morph said, Rogue continued her search for Timothy but there was no need for that since he found Rogue first.

"Rogue what are ya doing here?" Timothy inquired, unaware that Morph was right behind his mother's employee.

"Your mom and Ah need your help at the diner," Rogue told him.

Timothy nodded his understanding but his attention was really caught by the hand that was reaching to touch Rogue's shoulder. "Uh Rogue, someone's about to touch your shoulder," he pointed out.

Immediately Rogue panicked and turned around too quickly that she didn't take the time to notice just how close Morph's hand was to her shoulder until his finger brushed up against it.

The next few seconds were electrifying as Rogue felt Morph's power, his memories, and his life flow from his finger tip into her body. As with everyone else, the feeling last for a mere two seconds but it felt more like forever and a day to Rogue.

Absorbing the kid left Rogue a bit off balance as she felt her body change on her into Morph's form and then back into hers. Now she had one more personality to deal with in her head and it hurt for a moment.

"Rogue?" came Timothy's terrified voice and that was all Rogue needed to be brought back to reality.

With her head still in shambles, Rogue glanced around her to find a good majority of the junior high kids, including Timothy, starring at her in amazement and fear. That sent the familiar sense of panic to rise in Rogue, causing her to start running down the street.

_Ah've got to get away from here!_ her mind yelled as she ran down the street, ignoring Timothy's cries for her to stop. _This was a bad idea from the start. How could Ah have been stupid enough to think something like this wouldn't happen to meh?! Ah should never have stayed here, Ah should have continued towards __Charleston__. Now Ah've got no choose but to go an' this time without any money…_

That was when Rogue's brain stopped for a moment. _Ah have no money, how am Ah to pay for mah bus fare?_ Starring at the bus stop sign ahead of her, Rogue slowed to a walk and realized that she couldn't possibly take the bus without money. _Ah'll have ta hitch a ride then._

* * *

Timothy had no idea what was happening, one moment Rogue was turning around to face Sydney and then the next Sydney was silently screaming with Rogue. The moment after was the freakiest though because Rogue seemed to change into Morph as the real Morph fell to the cement.

"Rogue?" he spoke up after she had returned to her form.

The scared expression on her face when she turned around was genuine and could not have been mistaken for anything else. That fearful look turned into something akin to panic before Rogue took off running away from the school as fast as she could.

It took Timothy a second to find his voice but when he did he started to call out, "Rogue, stop! Come back!" The girl just wouldn't listen to him though and she kept running down the street.

Not knowing what to do Timothy did the only thing he could think of to do, run to the diner. If there was ever anyone that could fix this it was his mother, she could fix any problem there was.

"Timothy!" Marian cried out as her son entered the diner breathlessly.

Setting down the pot of coffee in her hand, Marian went up to her son and led him to a stool at the counter.

"Timothy what's wrong? Where's Rogue?" Marian inquired, taking notice of the young girl's absence.

"She…she…she ran…ran away…" Timothy gasped, trying to breath slowly but it wasn't working.

"What?! Why?" Marian demanded, illogically shaking her son's shoulders but then she caught herself. "Which direction did she go?"

"T-towards the…the bus stop," answered Timothy.

Standing up, Marian took off her apron and tossed it at the blond gothic girl that was standing by the counter. "Carol, take over for me and Timothy's in charge," the older woman stated, grabbing her car keys. "Ah'm going after Rogue."

"What?!" the blond protested. "Marian, I can't help out…"

"Carol Susan Jane Danvers, Ah've known ya since you were little. Now Ah need your help so please do what Ah ask and Ah'll pay ya for your services later, but right now Ah really need to get going if Ah want to catch up with Rogue," implored Marian.

"Okay," agreed Carol as she put on the apron. This was a challenge being placed at her feet and she wasn't about to let it slide past her for any reason. Besides, Lucas was interested in the girl and if Marian was willing to go after her then that was fine by Carol.

"Thank you," Marian quickly said before racing out of the diner to her car. Despite the fact that her house was not that far from the diner she felt that it was always better that she take the car in case there was an emergency and they needed to take someone to the hospital.

Getting into her car, Marian started up the vehicle and pulled into the empty lane, trying not to speed but her foot seemed to have a mind of its own for it kept pressing down on the exhilarator.

"Rogue, what happened that made you take off like that? What is the matter?" Marian wondered aloud as she scanned the streets for someone like Rogue by the bus stop.

There was no one.

"Oh, where would she have gone?" Marian growled, slamming her fist against the stirring wheel.

Stopping at the a red light, Marian sat back and began to breath slowly to calm herself. How was she to think if she was too angry and frustrated to analyze the situation?

"Okay, she's not at the bus stop yet she obviously wants to get out of town, so where would she go from here?" Marian thought aloud. "If she had wanted to take the bus then she would have waited the extra ten minutes but she didn't which means she probably doesn't have any money on her. So without the money what's her next best option?"

Even though the light had turned green Marian still didn't move.

"Hitchhiking."


	9. Located

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

Cerebro drew Charles Xavier's attention from the book he was reading, 'Once and Future King', to the computer conceal that had been revealed behind a wall. Approaching the conceal Charles saw that on the computer screen two separate biographies appeared.

The first biography seemed normal enough. Name: Sydney James. Address: 9822 South Drive in ----, South Carolina. Age: 17, junior at St. ---- High School. Power/s: May take the appearance and voice of anyone he wishes. All very typical information to find about the usual mutants that Cerebro was known to locate.

The second biography was what really caught Charles' attention. Name: Rogue Darkholme. Last known address: The Xavier School for the Gifted in Westchester, New York. Age: 18, dropout of Bayville High School. Power/s: Ability to absorb the memory, life force, and/or power of anyone she makes skin to skin contact with. NOTE: The use of the absorbed power is temporary and leaves the absorbed person unconscious, in a coma, and can even kill.

_We've found her,_ Xavier thought with a sigh of relief and defeat. _Now I must tell Kurt when he gets back from school, hopefully he will keep his promise and not go after her._

The last note about Rogue's powers was bothering Xavier now, it had been since the day when she lost control. How could anyone just assume that the powers Rogue absorbed were just temporary rather than stored somewhere like all her personalities and absorbed memories? Although he had helped Rogue to contain-not every-most of the personalities there seemed to be the potentiality that those personalities could return stronger than ever.

_Perhaps I should revise that,_ he thought.

"You want to tell Kurt or should I?" came Scott's voice from the doorway.

"I should tell him Scott, but thank you for the offer," Xavier replied. "How long have you been there?"

"Just a few seconds, but long enough to read the information," Scott answered, entering the room entirely. "Should I prep the jet for take off to go get her?"

Xavier pulled up an image of a map on the screen; on the map were two little red dots where the two mutants were located. Sydney James was in one spot but Rogue was on the move.

"There's no need to, she's on the move again and she may not be returning there anytime soon if at all." Xavier looked up at the student he almost thought of as a son only to find the student now teacher had his brows knitted together into frustration. "She may not return now especially since she'll have figured that we know her position," Charles added.

Scott understood what the Professor was saying but that keep the urge to get the jet ready for take off disappear. In fact it did just the opposite, it made him want to go after her even more.

"Scott, I know you want to go after her but Rogue wants time to herself and she had specifically asked us not to follow. We live up to her request," the Professor reminded.

"I know Professor but it just doesn't seem right for us to sit by as she wanders about looking for herself or what it is that she's doing," Scott reasoned. "If she was having a problem she could have came to Logan, Storm, Mr. McCoy, Jean, you, or I for help…"

Charles held up a hand to silence the younger man. "I know Scott, that is how most of us would have handled our problems but I don't think that is what Rogue needed, one of us to be almost patronizing her in the worst possible way, by treating her exactly like the others but without the same confidence."

"I don't understand Professor."

"If you are helping, say, Bobby with a problem with his powers or just his personal troubles you will be able to sympathize or lend some advice. Can you tell me that you can honestly do that with Rogue?" the Professor inquired.

Scott thought about it; he couldn't really relate to Rogue as far as her powers. Sure, he felt like an outsider at first and even to that day he still felt his powers were a curse rather than a blessing, but it could be controlled unlike Rogue's. Her personal troubles…well, she didn't really talk too much about that. Most of the time Rogue closed herself to others when someone tried to open her up on topics like Mystique, especially Mystique. Most of the advice Scott had given Rogue in the past was just something's he had come up with on the spot and they weren't exactly the best advice, rather pathetic to be honest.

"I get it now Professor, I'll keep an eye on Kurt to make sure he or any of the others try to go out looking for her," promised Scott but behind his glasses he held an expression of reluctant defeat.

"Thank you Scott," Charles nodded, backing away from the control panel then closing the wall. "I know what you're next question is Scott and the answer is no. Do not go after Sydney James either, if Rogue was to see any of you she would panic and run, perhaps hurting someone along the way."

"But she has already hurt someone," pointed out Scott.

"And she's running."

* * *

How could she have ever thought that life would dare be good to her? No, of course life couldn't be good to her, her the mutant who did more harm than good to others or herself.

The moment that life seemed to be going great life just had to give Rogue the verbally kick in the ass to remind her that her life sucked! Now, she was wandering down along a highway that was very lacking in cars.

How could life get any worse?

Rogue heard a car speeding down the road towards her; it was coming from the direction that Rogue had just came from. Turning around, Rogue saw that it was Marian's Oldsmobile coming at her.

"Oh no," she groaned, speeding up her pace.

"Rogue," Marian's voice cried out as the car pulled up along side the teen with its passenger window rolled down. "Rogue honey, get in the car."

Marian's voice didn't sound angry but Rogue didn't know want to make the mistake of trusting the woman only to find that Marian was only going to hand her (Rogue) over to some anti-mutant cult. Still, this was Marian; the woman was one of the sweetest people Rogue had ever met, besides Kitty.

"Go away Marian," Rogue choked out, she had been crying for a while after absorbing a bit of Morph. She did that most of the time when she accidentally absorbed someone who was not the enemy.

"Rogue," Marian called out again from her car.

The teen didn't reply again and she wasn't showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon.

With a frustrated sigh, Marian slowed down and pulled her car off to the side of the road. Pulling to a stop, Marian parked the car and turn off her vehicle.

_If she's not going to get into the car then Ah'm going' to talk to her at least,_ Marian decided as she got out of the car and chased after Rogue. "Rogue honey, please stop and talk to me. Tell me what happened!"

_What happened?_ The words repeated themselves constantly in Rogue's mind as she began running. _Who doesn't know what happened? Ah completely screwed up one of the few good things in mah life!_

"Oh!" Marian tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, it had caused Rogue to stop and turn around.

"Oh my Gawd!" Rogue cried out as she veered around to see Marian on the ground. All of a sudden the instinct to help this woman who had shown so much kindness towards her overwhelmed any possibility of a trap.

Reaching Marian, Rogue knelt down in front of her and put a gloved hand on the woman's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she inquired breathlessly.

"Yeah, yeah, Ah'm okay, jus' fell," assured Marian with a bit of an ironic smile touching her lips. "Guess my legs jus' aren't what they once were anymore, another sign that Ah'm growing old."

Rogue couldn't help but crack a tiny smile of her own. However, the moment soon passed and Rogue began to realize that she should be running again before Marian prevented her escape…

Too late, Marian had already grabbed hold of her wrist.

"Tell me why you're running Rogue," Marian implored, watching the young girl's face for any hints. The only hint was the downcast eyes and the sort of panic-ashamed expression that fell across Rogue's features. "Rogue…"

The young mutant could feel Marian's sympathy radiate off her and she could see the older woman move in to hug Rogue, but that was the last thing that Rogue wanted.

"Don't touch me," Rogue commanded softly as she backed away a bit.

Keeping her distance, Marian didn't want to spook Rogue or make the girl feel the need to run off again, Marian sat there and just put her hand on Rogue's gloved one. This was the first time that she had to ever deal with a runaway and Marian was at a complete lost of what to do, especially with this young girl who was obviously very distressed about something that had happened.

"Come back with me and explain it all to me, please," stated Marian softly, giving Rogue's hand a gentle squeeze.

Fear gripped at Rogue again. _What if Ah hurt her?_ she thought in panic. "A-Ah can't."

Seeing that any ground that she may have ever gained with Rogue was slowly being lost, Marian had to try a different tactic.

"Rogue, look at me," she commanded gently. Slowly, cautiously, the girl looked up to stare at the older woman in the eye. "Ah'm not going' to leave ya here alone, Ah'm not going' to let anyone harm ya, an' Ah refuse to let ya wander on your own when you still have a place with Timothy and Ah. Now, please get in the car and Ah'll take ya back to the diner."

A look of terror crossed Rogue's face.

"You can stay in back and Timothy can help me out until closing. Ah'll close early and ya can explain everything to me tonight," Marian promised. "Okay?"

"You won't understand," Rogue muttered, looking down at the ground again.

Marian wanted to reach out a hand and tip Rogue's face up, but she knew that Rogue didn't wish to be touched for whatever reason. "Rogue, you have only known me for a week, and during that time you have learned what my daily life is like. Daily life is nothing compared to my history, so we're still strangers to each other. Don't presume to know what Ah do and don't understand, okay," reminded Marian.

_She's right, we are strangers to each other still,_ thought Rogue, but the doubts of Marian's reaction being positive still lingered.

"Come on, let's get going so that Ah can relieve Carol of the work Ah have her doing," smiled Marian, rising to her feet and pulling Rogue with her. "Just promise me one thing hon, don't run away from me ever again."

A larger smile crossed Rogue's face this time. "Promise," she nodded, knowing that Marian had yet to let go of her hand. Most people would probably have reminded Marian to let go but Rogue preferred to enjoy the unaffected contact that she had with the woman, even if there was a piece of leather separating their skins.

_Will she still do that when she knows the truth?_ Rogue wondered as she sat down in the car, no longer having that contact with Marian, and put on her seatbelt, what was left of one anyway.


	10. A Family Affair

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

It really was not like him to get frustrated over a girl, seriously. How could he let her disappearance get to him? It wasn't as though it wasn't bound to happen even after his little 'kidnapping' trip. After all, this was Rogue after all and true to her name, the girl could become a little unpredictable. Perhaps not always in actions but rather in timing, the girl had the least and the greatest timing one could hope to have.

It wasn't really that Rogue was gone that frustrated Remy it was the fact that she had disappeared without a clue as to where she was and with no real hope of ever returning to New York, whether it be for herself or to the X-Men he didn't really care as long as she returned. However, that didn't seem to be a possibility anytime soon.

The bell of Bayville High School finally rang to release the students, finally. He had only been waiting the last forty minutes going between getting coffees for his 'comrades', waiting outside the school, to fetching some nasty, fatty donuts, then back to waiting outside the school. It was the slowest forty minutes of his life.

Remy had to wait an extra five minutes until Kitty came out of the school speaking with another girl, Amara if Remy's memory served him correctly. Kitty continued to speak to her friend until she noticed him leaning against a tree, then she excused herself from Amara and approached him.

"What are you doing here?" Kitty hissed at him, she had not expected the Acolytes until a more convenient time.

Pushing himself off the tree, Gambit flashed a charming smile. "Wha' can' a man come t' see a fille whene'er he want t'?"

"Whatever," Kitty sighed, rolling her eyes not only at the guy pathetic excuse but also because she noticed herself lapsing back into her valley girl talk, something that has slowly been wearing off. "If you're here to ask about Rogue we haven't found her okay? Apparently she has been taking extra precautions so that no one can touch her skin, so Cerebro can't find her until something happens," Kitty informed him. "There, now get lost."

"Well, ya know, de Gambit is a pretty busy man at times so he was just t'inkin' dat perhaps he could jus' catch ya at school one a week. Wha' do ya say? Is it a deal?" Remy offered, disappointed that there had been no news of Rogue.

The idea of there being a set day and time when Kitty would have to speak with the guy was better than having him just show up out of the blue waiting for her outside of school or something far worse.

"Okay, how about you meet me by the bleachers on Friday at 3:30?" suggested Kitty.

"Dat is okay wit' me," shrugged Gambit, mentally starting to count off the days from that day, Monday, to Friday. "I promise t' be brief when speakin' t' ya."

"Good to know," Kitty nodded slightly, distracted a bit by the look that she noticed Kurt giving her. It was one of bewilderment and almost a sort of accusation, and it was making Kitty a bit uneasy. "Yeah, so I'll see you then."

Without waiting for a reply Kitty took off to Kurt, best not to stay near someone like the Cajun too long, not with her friends within eye sight. She approached Kurt with a false cheery smile plastered on her face.

"Vhat vere you talking to him for?" Kurt inquired immediately, not even bothering to let Kitty greet him in the usual way.

Kitty's expression fell instantly.

"Oh nothing much," she lied but Kurt wasn't having any of it.

"Seriously Kitty, vhat vere you telling him? Vas it something about Rogue?" Kurt questioned.

"Yes," admitted Kitty, she really didn't want to lie to Kurt. "He was wondering where Rogue was…"

"Did you tell him zat she ran avay?" interrupted Kurt, grabbing Kitty's shoulders to make certain that she looked at him.

Wrenching herself from her friend's grasp, Kitty nodded, "Yes, he knew since last week when he had approached me after school to ask where she was. I told him that she had run away and he wanted me to keep him informed in case something comes up…"

"Vhy vould you keep him 'informed'! He's ze enemy and he does not need to know vhere my sister is, much less know anything about her vhereabouts!" Kurt's voice was steadily rising and Kitty was afraid that it might attract attention to them if it continued.

"Kurt, keep your voice down and let me explain on the way home," Kitty whispered harsher than what she had planned while pulling Kurt down the road.

"Zen start explaining," Kurt instructed.

* * *

Marian didn't want to leave Rogue at the house for fear that she might try to run away again, but Marian still had to finish work. So, she took Rogue to the diner but rather than have Rogue working the tables she had the girl sit in the kitchen under Joe's watchful eye.

"Ah don't want you to watch her completely Joe but at least keep a good eye on her to make certain that she don't sneak out that back door while your back is turned," Marian whispered to her brother-in-law in the kitchen as Rogue sat at a small table with her hands buried under her arms, which were crossed, and her shoulders shrugged up to her neck.

"Marian, Ah don't see why you're so worried about the girl, she's doin' fine right now," protested Joe as he was busy making another batch of spaghetti noodles.

"That's because she knows that Ah'm here right now to catch her if she should try to pull a fast one," Marian argued, giving Joe a stern look that he met evenly.

Draining the noodles and refilling the kettle with more watch to put back onto the stove for the next item to be boiled, Joe leaned against the counter and looked at the gothic girl sitting on the other side of the room just staring at her boots; she didn't dare meet anyone's eyes.

"Oh alright, but you owe me big on this one," Joe agreed but he didn't get his sister-in-law's famous grin that he was hoping for. Instead she just watched the young girl sit there as though afraid of anyone that would come up to her or afraid to go to anyone.

"Ah don't get why you're so attached to that girl, Marian, after all she's just some punk runaway kid from New York, right? Ah mean she's not like some long lost daughter of yours or something, right?" Joe inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Marian kicked his shin and tossed him a rare glare. "No, you know as well as Ah do that Ah've only had two kids my entire life an' only one of them was not your brother's, and you were there for both births. Besides, Jonathan was born when Ah was seventeen and from what Rogue has told me, she's younger than him. So no, it is impossible that she could be my daughter," she replied.

"Ah was only joking," groaned Joe, returning to his work, place two plates of warm food on the counter and ringing the bell. "But seriously," he sobered up, "what is it about her that attracts you so?"

"The fact that she reminds me of myself when Ah first got here an' Ah don't want her to go through all the same crap that Ah went through. Besides, Ah also get the feeling that she has been through a lot of shit in her life that she hasn't dealt with at all, an' Ah want to help her deal with most of it so that she can get out of her bubble an' into the world more," explained Marian.

Joe nodded but just very slightly as he stared down at the onion he had been chopping, a grim line on his features stated that his mind was back on his brother.

Noticing her brother-in-law's countenance, Marian patted his shoulder and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Ah miss him too," she whispered before going back out to the diner to relieve Carol of the work.

Joe glanced back at Rogue and found a few similarities between her and his sister-in-law, but there were only a few.

"Ah hope she knows what she's doin'," he muttered, returning to the chopping.

* * *

Kurt was in the library-music room waiting for the Professor to come meet him. The moment the Elf had returned to the mansion in such a foul mood, Scott told him that Professor Xavier wished to speak to him later that evening.

So for the last four hours he had been dreading this moment for another one on one talk about his emotions towards Rogue's disappearance, apparently the Prof. had decided to take it upon himself to discover how everyone in the household was handling. It didn't make any sense to Kurt as to why he needed to talk about his feelings, wasn't it obvious enough that he was angry with Rogue, yet he was depressed that he had failed her, then he nervous as to how she was taking care of herself.

Most people wouldn't know just how dangerous Rogue could be if they or she wasn't careful, but Rogue was always careful. Still, accidents still seemed to happen often to her for whatever reason.

It was difficult to be complete angry with Rogue when there was probably a number of factors involved in her run away, but then again, it was just as hard to forgive her for taking off suddenly since she didn't give too many excuses in her little note. So, until he heard the entire truth Kurt could never fully forgive her for anything, yet he just couldn't stay angry with his beloved sister either.

"Ah Kurt, glad to see that you have gone off to bed or to watch T.V. yet," Professor Xavier's voice was heard as he rolled into the room, distracting Kurt away from the bookshelf.

"Professor, you need to talk to me about Rogue," Kurt stated evenly, not even bothering to meet the older man's eyes.

"Yes Kurt," confirmed the Prof., shifting around a bit. "Please sit down." The Professor motioned to an empty seat by Kurt.

"I rather stand," Kurt refused, looking up at the older man. "So vhat do you need to tell me about Rogue, or rather vhat do you vant to ask me about Rogue?" He hadn't come to play games so Kurt wanted to this interview done as soon as possible and in a more straightforward manner.

Xavier cleared his throat a bit as he rolled closer to Kurt. "Today while you were at school Cerebro brought to my attention the detection of two mutants," began Charles, finding the next part more difficult to say.

"You found Rogue?" assumed Kurt, breathlessly.

"Yes. She apparently made skin contact with another mutant and it was brought to Cerebro's attention, then to mine."

Kurt couldn't breath. _They found Rogue!_


	11. The Confession

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

Balancing himself upside down on the bed, Kurt glared off into the empty space of his room. Since he didn't have a fan or anything to wrap his tail around, he couldn't hang upside down, Kurt had to settle for doing some form of a head stand on his bed.

There was always something about being upside down that just made Kurt feel as though he was getting another perspective of something and that it actually helped to make him think. Of course someone like Kitty would argue that, but he truly felt as though it did help him to think more clearly.

"Zis sucks," he grunted, still staring off into space. "I now know vay she is and I can't do anyzing about it since I promised not to go after her." Sighing, Kurt tucked his chin under and rolled forward, almost falling off his bed by doing so.

What was he supposed to do, just sit at home while Rogue was in South Carolina, where she could be persecuted even worse than at Bayville? No, that he would never tolerate, but he gave his word to the Professor and to Logan, and they were going to hold him to his word to be sure.

_"He wants me to keep him informed if we ever find Rogue,"_ Kitty had told him when they were talking about that Cajun.

At the time Kurt had completely disapproved of letting the Acolytes know anything about Rogue's whereabouts, should they ever find her, that is. _Vell, now you have,_ Kurt reminded himself ruefully.

Looking up, Kurt glanced over at the Bible that lay on his dresser, recently he had been in need of guidance that the Professor simply could not provide. So far, he has found what he needed in the Bible and in his belief of God. __

_Everything zat happens is for some good,_ he reminded himself. _Everything…_

"Zat's it!" Kurt exclaimed, leaping off the bed. "Kitty!" Realizing how futile it was to just call out her name in a mansion of that size, Kurt quickly 'ported to the first place he could that she would be; her room.

"Kitty?" he called out only to have something solid hit his forehead.

"Hey, vhat vas zat for?" Kurt groaned, bending over a bit to rub his poor, wounded forehead.

"Next time give a girl some warning before you just 'port in, Kurt," Kitty retorted.

Kurt had no idea what she was doing but there was a bunch of shuffling sounds. Instead of looking up, Kurt found it to be safer to keep his head looking at the ground rather than at the girl.

"You can look up now," she sighed, wrapping her arms about herself.

Cautiously, Kurt lifted his head to find Kitty covered hastily in a bathrobe and her wet hair dangling about her. Swallowing hard, Kurt shook his head a bit to clear it of any thought or images that might have risen.

"Was there something you wanted?" questioned Kitty, bringing Kurt back to the reason why he 'ported into the room to begin with.

"Uh, ja. Vhen did you say zat you vill be meeting vith zat guy?" Kurt inquired, adverting his eyes to anything that wasn't in Kitty's general direction.

"Friday, why, I thought you didn't want me talking to him about Rogue anymore…"

Shaking his fuzzy head, Kurt quickly interrupted, "Zat vas earlier. Listen to me Kitty, I need you to help enlist his help for me." At the girl's bewildered expression, she had yet to master the raised eyebrow, Kurt hurriedly clarified, "Ze Professor has found vhere Rogue is."

"What? When? How? Where is she? Why haven't I heard of a team being assembled to go get her?" The questions were just rolling off her tongue, one right after the other, it even amazed Kitty.

"Zat just it, ze Professor doesn't vant us going after her because of her letter. He zinks zat ve'll maintain her trust by compiling vith her request of us not going after her, of course I disagree. So, he von't send out a team to go after her…"

"And that's why you want to enlist Gambit's help," finished Kitty with a knowing look on her face. That expression grew broader after Kurt nodded his confirmation. "Just tell me where she is and I'll make sure that he gives me his word that he'll go after her or something along those lines."

Reluctantly, Kurt nodded, he just didn't trust that southern boy, there just seemed to be something off with other than the fact that he was one of Magneto's boys.

* * *

It was nearly nine o'clock when Marian, Timothy, and Rogue got into the house, which was later than the normal time.

"Timothy, go upstairs and get to your homework, Ah'll bring you up a snack shortly but Ah want to see you doing some homework when Ah do," instructed Marian, setting down her purse on the kitchen table.

"Alright mom," nodded Timothy, hurrying up the stairs to his room.

Once Marian heard her son's door close, she turned to Rogue, who stood near the door as though she were contemplating of making a quick getaway. "Take a seat hon, an' Ah'll make you something to eat," Marian stated, gesturing to one of the four empty chairs at the table.

Cautiously, Rogue took the seat farthest from Marian but closest to the door. She just didn't feel right being in Marian's house as the woman moved about the kitchen pulling out leftovers and heating them up for their supper.

The leftover pineapple with anchovies pizza from last night was reheated and Marian handed Rogue the plate, telling her to go give it to Timothy along with a can of soda. Rogue was very reluctant to take the food up to the boy but after some gentle coaxing from Marian she did.

Just going up the stairs was torture for Rogue but once she reached Timothy's door all her fears heightened.

_What he must think of meh,_ Rogue thought with a grimace. _He saw what had happened b'fore, how could he _not_ be scared of some…freak livin' in the same house as 'im, especially if there's a chance of meh touchin' his mom…_

All trains of thoughts came to an abrupt halt when Timothy opened the door for Rogue and barely stopped himself from running into her. His eyes were wide with fear once he realized that he had nearly ran into Rogue, and that only assured Rogue that life before that afternoon would never be in her grasp again.

"Your ma wanted meh to give ya this," Rogue told him, holding out the plate of food to Timothy, who did not take it. "Don' worry, as long as mah gloves are on Ah can't hurt ya."

Warily, Timothy took the plate of food, without coming into contact with Rogue's gloved fingers.

"Thanks," he said stiffly, watching as Rogue turned away with this hurtful, rejected look on her face that just began to tear at the young teen's heart. "Sydney's okay now," Timothy spoke up, bringing Rogue to a halt, "Ah just thought that you might like to know."

"Ah'm glad," Rogue told him with a tiny smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Then she went downstairs only to find Marian sitting at the table with two plates of food, one of them waiting for Rogue.

"Sit down an' eat before it gets cold," ordered Marian, indicating to the chair beside her.

_Why is she still bein' so nice to meh? Surely Timothy or someone told her want had happened. So why isn't she screamin' 'freak' in mah face or holdin' a gun at mah face to make meh 'cooperate'?_ Rogue wondered as she took the chair she had occupied earlier, putting distance between her and Marian.

They ate in silence, well, Marian ate while Rogue observed her with suspicious eyes. Life has never been generous to her before so why should Rogue dare to hope that Marian might still accept her for who she was? There had to be some sort of a catch, there just _had_ to be.

"If you're not going to eat then do you want to tell me what happened when you went to get Timothy?" Marian suggested, sipping her can of Pepsi.

The reaction was immediate, Rogue instinctively straightened in her seat and her hands gripped at her pants under the table. "Ah don' think ya really want to know…" she began to protest.

"Well, normally Ah probably wouldn't but when you just suddenly decide to run away then it has to be something huge, so tell me about it so that Ah can help you out," pointed out Marian, sitting back a bit.

"You wouldn't understand," muttered Rogue, looking down at her plate of cold pizza.

"Then you'll have to explain it to me until Ah do understand, but realize this much Rogue, Ah want to help you out in anyway possible," Marian told her. "So, tell me what happened."

Biting her lip, Rogue considered the many possible ways that she could go to break the truth to Marian, something that she really was hoping that she could avoid. _Well, it's not now is it? So jus' get it over with so that she can kick you out,_ Rogue reminded herself.

"Do ya watch the news Marian?" she inquired softly.

"Not really, but my older boy, Jonathan keeps me well informed of the world outside of this small town. So, Ah guess that Ah know a bit of what's going on in the world," the older woman answered straightforwardly, without asking for an explanation, much to Rogue's amazement.

"Have you heard about the…'mutant crisis'?" Rogue chocked out. Just that word 'crisis' made it sound as though it was some deadly epidemic that was sweeping the globe and only becoming worse.

Marian's eyebrows rose a bit, rather if it was from realization or disgust/surprise Rogue couldn't tell, but she was willing to bet it wasn't good news.

"Yeah, Ah have a bit," she nodded slowly.

"Well, Ah-Ah'm-Ah'm a-ah…well that is to say Ah'm…a," Rogue just couldn't seem to be able to piece together the sentence.

"A mutant?" finished Marian.

Rogue simply nodded, lowering her head farther. "Ah'll understand if ya want to meh outta here but at least hear meh out, Ah didn't mean to hurt Sydney, it was all strictly by accident," she explained.

There, she had made her case now it was up to Marian whether or not she actually wanted her around anymore. _Just say 'no' an' get it over with,_ Rogue silently begged, keeping her eyes lowered.

Instead of saying anything Marian did the one thing Rogue least expected to happen in this situation, she laughed.


	12. Something Serious

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

**Okay people, school has started once again and I'm stressed out between homework, school, piano lessons, horseback riding, and marching band. So, since most of my weekends will be stressful until mid-October I'm going to just try to update every other week.**

**So, my point is, don't ask me to update soon because I won't. Thank you.**

"Charles," Logan spoke up as he sat down on the chair with a can of soda, unfortunately the good professor banned any liquor of any form in the mansion.

"Yes Logan?" Xiaver returned, staring at the chess board, he was playing against Hank, trying to resist the temptation of entering the other teacher's mind.

"I've been thinking about these counceling sessions you've been having with the students," Logan began, trying to find a way to actual word what he wanted to say. "Do you really think that Rogue's disappearance has affected anyone other than Kurt or Kitty?"

Charles glanced up at his friend. "What exactly are you trying to say Logan? That the students do not care that Rogue is no longer here?"

Logan could already see where this was going to lead, down the path he didn't mean for it to lead down to.

"No," he corrected, "I'm just saying Charles, that Rogue was a loner and very few people got close to her. We may feel like family to each other, even to Rogue, but I seriously don't think that many of the kids are emotionally involved in her being gone."

He could sense that the professor was not buying the idea.

"Charles, I'm no pyscratrist but these kids don't know Rogue too well and I think they could care less about her being gone for the most part. In fact, I think some of them probably feel safer without her around," explained Logan.

Moving his knight, Charles looked up at Logan, "You mean without her powers around."

"Exactly. I know you're good at reading minds and all Charles, but even you can't read how the kids feel about other students unless you watch them closely. Most of them flinched away from Rogue when she was here," Wolverine stated.

"Sorry Charles," Hank interjected, "I must agree with Logan on this observation. They _did_ flinch away and I don't think it was because of her status as a loner either."

Charles sighed, he always thought he had known all of his students well enough to know that they held each other in the highest of respects and that they felt safe with each other. Apparently not if they were all afraid to touch one girl who was probably more paranoid than any of them.

"So, then I should stop these counseling sessions and just focus on Kitty and Kurt than," he muttered while scanning the board. "Checkmate."

* * *

She was laughing! Why was she laughing? What did she find so amusing about Rogue being a mutant? Was there some sort of inside joke that Rogue was missing?

Rogue was shocked at first but then she began to feel offended.

Marian slowly began to notice as she calmed down with deep breathes between laughs. "Ah'm sorry," she apologized, still partically laughing with a hand to her lips to help contain her laughter.

"Don't ya believe meh?!" Rogue questioned, feeling offended and possibly even more offended if Marian didn't believe her.

Sobering, Marian put down her hand and looked at Rogue for a moment before realizing that the teen obviously was taking her reaction the wrong way. This miscommunication had to be corrected.

"Ah _do_ believe you, Rogue, an' that's what's so hilarious to me," Marian explained.

"Why?" Rogue demanded, perplexed. Where exactly was the hilarity in that situation? She believed Rogue, good, but what was so hilarious about believing in Rogue? That was the part that Rogue couldn't understand.

"Because Ah almost thought it was something serious like you killing someone or something the like," answered Marian with that winning smile that she could throw at anyone and make them weak.

Rogue's eyes narrowed a bit. "So meh being a mutant _isn't_ serious?" Marian was taken aback but she didn't say anything since Rogue was not done with her demands. "How so? And don't you know what happened?!"

The older woman's eyebrow rose as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and taking a slice of pizza. "Ah never asked Timothy 'cause Ah wanted _you_ to tell me what happened," Marian stated, taking a bite of the pizza.

Once again, Rogue was stunned into silence for a moment. _She doesn't know what happened…she had never asked Timothy what had happened,_ her brain finally realized. "W-why?" Rogue muttered.

Marian shrugged, swallowing, "Ah figured you could explain it better than him, but do say something if you think differently."

Biting her lower lip, Rogue down at her hands for a moment and twisted them in her lap. When she glanced up, Rogue saw that Marian was sitting there, eating her pizza while waiting patiently for the tale.

Sighing, Rogue began her narrative, "Ah went to pick up Timothy, just as you had asked med." Marian nodded. "Ah met with Mor…Sydney an' we were talkin' until Timothy came out. After that Ah seriously have no idea what happened, all Ah Know was that his hand touched mah face!" Throughout the enter story Rogue's voice steadily grew louder until it sounded as though she were defending herself from an ansault of accusations.

Marian's brows furrowed together in confusion. "What happens when someone touches your face?" she asked.

Immediately, Rogue's mind began to panic as she thought of a way to explain her powers. _Perhaps Ah should explain it like Ah did with Rist…Mystique._ It still hurt to think of how Mystique disguised herself to be Rogue's friend, it hurt even more the manner in which Rogue found out. _Ah feel so used…_

"Rogue, are you okay over there? You look like you're about to cry," Marian spoke up, setting aside her pizza and moving from her seat across from Rogue to the chair beside her.

"Ah'm fine," Rogue lied, peeling off a glove and holding up her bare hand with three rings on her fingers. "If Ah were to make skin to skin contact with you right now, Ah would probably put you into a coma. All of your memories, life force, everythin' about you would flow from you an' into me."

Marian didn't say a word or make sound for that matter. It made Rogue very nervous because now she didn't know if it was a good sign or not.

"So," she continued, "that's why Ah wear these gloves all the time."

Again, the older woman didn't say a word and just sat there watching Rogue intently. Shifting about in her seat Rogue began to fidget with her gloves and steal glances between her hands and Marian.

"Say somethin'," Rogue pleaded in a soft voice.

There was no way that she was going to be able to take anymore of this silent treatment without knowing if Marian was disgusted or afraid of Rogue to the extent that she was going to kick the teen out. Even though that was the last thing Rogue wanted, she couldn't help but wonder if that was exactly what was going to happen within the next few seconds.

"Well," Marian piped up, glancing at her watch and then at the clock on the wall, "that was quite the tale, Rogue."

There it was, the hanging sentence that just had the unspoken 'but' or 'yet' in it. Rogue could just sense it as she stared down at her hands, slipping her glove back on her hand.

"But?" Rogue murmured, knowing that she would have to be the one to say it or the sentence would have been left hanging for a long time.

"But it's late an' we have work in the mornin'," Rogue snapped her head up, "so Ah suggest that we go to bed so that we can wake up bright 'n' early an' meet the day head on." It was the typical, energetic Marian speaking as though it was any other evening and they had just shared a casual dinner conversation that had nothing to do with Rogue being a mutant.

Rogue was still in a state of shock when Marian grabbed her plate and threw it out. Then Marian began to head for the stairs, yawning, and ready for bed.

"Why?" Rogue questioned, recalling herself to reality.

Marian stopped on the stairs and didn't ask for clarification. "Because we need money to pay the bills an' the diner brings in that money that we use to pay those bills with," she responded.

"No, why are you still lettin' meh stay with you even after all that Ah just told you? About meh bein' a mutant an' about mah powahs, an' everythin'," Rogue clarified, she was not in the mood for joking. No, Rogue wanted straight answers this time.

No normal person would let some mutant stay in his or her home, especially not one with powers that could put them into a coma with a simple touch of the skin. Besides, there was too much prejudice in the world against mutants that there was little to no hope that anyone was not in the least a bit prejudice. So, why was Marian being so open-minded about it?

The normal cheery disposition on Marian's face just fell. In her eyes Rogue could see that she was thinking of something from a long away memory that probably had a great affect on her.

"That…" she choked out in a quiet voice, "is a tale that must be saved for a later day, one where we'll have time to stay up an' talk about it. But tonight's not that night, okay? Can you settle for that for now?" Marian looked Rogue in the eye with such an imploring expression that the young girl couldn't say 'no' to.

So, instead of saying anything Rogue just nodded.

"In the meantime, let's get some sleep," Marian commented and Rogue again nodded.

The smile had returned then and Rogue couldn't help but smile back. "Can Ah trust you not to run away or do Ah need to tie you to the couch?" teased Marian with a wink.

Cracking into a full-blown smile, Rogue shook her head. "No, Ah promise not to run off."

"Okay." Leaning over the banister, Marian gave Rogue a searching look before she turned to go finish going up to her room. "'Night Rogue, see you in the mornin'."

"Night Marian," Rogue returned absently as she turned to her cold pizza, her appatite had finally decided to return with a vengeance as her stomach growled.

Obliging her inner needs for food, Rogue ate her slices of cold pizza and cleaned up after herself before heading into the living room. Quickly she debated whether she really should change into pajamas or just sleep in her clothes, Rogue decided to go with the latter. She would change clothes in the morning as it was.

So, Rogue laid down on the couch in her clothes and kicked off her combat boots.

_Guess mah life is turnin' 'round. How lucky am Ah that Marian is so understandin'…_Suddenly a thought struck Rogue that made her just jolt into a sitting position. "Oh mah Gawd, could Marian be a mutant?!"


	13. The Favor

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

**Yeah, I know, I'm late. This every other weekend thing that I had planned out didn't quite work out for me. However, marching season is over with so I can now update more often and I'm back to writing. Thank you all for your patience.**

**Also, I would like to point out to those who keep telling me to put Rogue with Morph or someone, I said in my summary, "Perhaps ROMY later." Perhaps is the keyword in that statement. I may or may not have Rogue go with anyone. Just letting you all know that it is still up in the air.**

What was she supposed to do? She had no idea where he lived so she couldn't go see if he was alright and it wasn't as if he would want to come near her ever again after what happened.

Rogue sighed, pausing in her wiping of the table. _This really sucks!_

The bell rang on the door, announcing customers causing Marian to look up from her bookkeeping. By the look Rogue saw on Marian's face, it would seem that Lucas and his little gothic posse were back for their after school lunch.

Glancing over her shoulder, Rogue saw that Morph was among the group. He seemed back to his normal outgoing, smartass self yet he kept throwing caution glances at Rogue's back.

Turning back to Marian, Rogue shook her head and gave a pleading expression. With an understanding smile, Marian took up a notepad and went to take the group's order.

Taking a bin of dirty dishes to the kitchen, Rogue set it down in the sink and began to run the water so that she could quickly wash the dishes before the rush hour hit. With such a limited amount of people working at the diner, everyone had to chip in on more than one chore.

Once the sink was full of soapy water, Rogue realized that she had to leave her gloves and rings behind the counter so that they would accidentally get knocked into the water like the last time.

While behind the counter, removing her gloves and rings, Rogue heard someone approach her from behind and take a seat at the counter.

"So," came Morph's unmistakable voice, "that was the reason why you don't like people touching your face."

Rogue didn't answer or turn around to face the teen. She didn't want to face him, not after what happened just the other day and in front of so many people…

"How do your powers work?" Morph inquired in a voice that was just a little above a whisper.

Slowly Rogue turned to Morph and approached him, leaning in a bit but still maintaining her distance. "They work whenever Ah…," Rogue began, glancing at Lucas to see him watching them curiously. The look on Lucas' face made Rogue think better of telling Morph exactly how her powers worked. "Jus' like how they did yesterday, Morph," she finished.

"Well," Morph grinned, playing with one of his longer strands of hair, "in case you were wondering. I woke up at about 8:30 p.m. last night in the comforts of my own bed and I felt as though I had just gotten run over by a truck. Then I stayed up until about 2:00 a.m. before I finally got back to sleep only to wake up at 9:35 and get to school late."

She couldn't help it, Rogue began to laugh because no one that she knew ever joked about having been absorbed by her. It was a major relief for her to hear someone to just talk about her powers lightly and make it into a joking matter rather than something it was; dangerous.

"But you're feelin' better, right?" Rogue asked, after calming her laughter.

Bowing his head until he was eyelevel with Rogue, Morph answered in all seriousness, "Yes, I'm better. You don't need to freak out like I was going to die or something; after all, I'm standing right in front of you."

With a small smile, Rogue nodded, but her smile vanished as Lucas approached them.

"Morph, your food is waiting for you," Lucas told his friend then glanced at Rogue. A most charming yet untrustworthy smile crossed his features. "Having a good day Rogue? Hopefully, it is better than the performance from yesterday."

Rogue gave Lucas an icy glare before turning to retreat back into the kitchen.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Morph gave Lucas a little shove, which made the Scottish teen a bit angered.

"That was among the stupidest things to say to her face, Lucas," Morph informed the taller male in a dead serious tone. "If you truly want her to join with us against your father then you better find another way to get on her good side because Rogue obviously doesn't want to be reminded of the damage her powers can do to others, in case you haven't noticed."

Grabbing Morph's wrist, Lucas began to twist it backwards slowly. "Do not speak to me like that ever again Morph. I know what I am doing with the girl; she'll come to us, eventually, when given the right persuasion…" The implication left little doubt in Morph's mind of what Lucas might have going through his mind.

"Hey, when I joined your little club, you promised me that no one would ever get hurt due to our powers. Don't you dare harm Marian or Timothy, they've done nothing to any of us," Morph pointed out, defensively. "They're like a second family to me Lucas and I swear that any harm that comes to them and is your doing, I'll kill you myself."

Something flashed in Lucas' eyes as he released Morph's wrist. "Fear not Morph, I have no intention of harming Marian or Timothy since they're the only form of family that I know of," assured Lucas with a charming grin.

"If you say so Lucas," Morph sighed.

"I do say so."

* * *

_Where are you? I know you are out there somewhere…_

"Charles? Charles?!"

Professor Xavier snapped out of his mind hunt as Ororo's voice was reregistered in his mind. Removing Cerebro's helmet, the good professor turned to his oldest student.

"Charles, you weren't looking for him again were you?" Ororo inquired, glancing at Cerebro's screen to see a picture of David at one corner and Lucas on the other.

"I was," Xavier admitted, swerving back around to the screen. "I have to find him Ororo and right the mistakes that I made with David, but with Lucas in control it is hard to track his location. Lucas is keeping a low profile, using his powers sparingly or not at all."

Approaching the screen, Ororo glanced around at all the shaded areas of the world that the professor had already scanned for his son but found no trace of him.

"What do you suppose he is doing right now, professor?" Storm questioned, looking about the screen to see where Rogue was supposedly located and seeing that it was not shaded.

Charles sat back and sighed, rubbing his eyes. "He is most likely waiting and plotting his next move to either come after me or to lure me into his clutches again. Although, Lucas may not seem to have a reason to come after me since he is now in control of David, Lucas knows that if given the opportunity I can possibly help bring David back into control."

"And Lucas fears this," Ororo finished.

"That I cannot say." Shaking his head ruefully, Charles turned his head to Ororo. "Was there something you needed from me?"

Ororo snapped up as though recalling something. "Do you know where Kurt and Kitty are? They didn't come home with the other students and no one knows where they are."

* * *

He was late! He was just any other man, late for a meeting that _he_ set up. She was thinking of leaving, in fact, Kitty half-believed that she should leave and let the Cajun deal with trying to find Rogue on his own…

"Bonjour."

_Speak of the devil,_ Kitty thought bitterly as she turned around to find the Cajun standing there with his hands stuffed in his trench pockets. _Probably holding one of his trademark cards._ "You're late," Kitty informed him.

"No, by Gambit's time Gambit is on time," countered Magneto's boy, holding up his wrist to show his watch. "Well now, might you be tellin' me why blue boy is waiting for you by de school doors?"

Kitty was a bit surprised that Gambit had noticed Kurt's presence but she soon corrected herself, _Of course he would notice someone like Kurt lingering about on his own._ "Kurt is waiting so that I can tell him if you agree or not."

Remy felt the feeling of intrigue flaring throughout his mind, the girl obviously knew _something_. _Now, wha' could she possibly know?_ Remy wondered lightly.

"So, you want to do me and Kurt a favor?" Kitty asked, noticing that the Cajun was unusually quiet as he eyed her with amused eyes.

"Dat would depend upon wha' the favor is and who de favor involves," Gambit shrugged, trying to sound a bit disinterested so that the girl would just tell him all that she knew without putting up much of a fight.

"It is a yes or no question," Kitty told him, putting a hand on her hip.

With a devilish grin, the Cajun nodded his agreement. "Certainly, I would be more dan happy t' lend a helpin' han' if it has to do wit de fille, Rogue," Remy clarified.

"Oh don't worry about that, it most certainly has to deal with Rogue," assured the Chicago girl.

"Den Gambit is all ears."

Taking a deep breath Kitty began her tale. "We have found Rogue, but in exchange for this knowledge Kurt had to promise not to try to go after her. So, since we're unable to go after Rogue we want you to go and see Rogue."

Gambit almost smirked, "So instead of takin' a chance, you two send de Gambit to retrieve de Rogue."

"Not to retrieve her," corrected Kitty, defensively. "We only want you to go see her and talk with her. If you want to try and bring her back then that's all up to you but we just want to see how she is doing."

"Of course," Remy agreed even though he truly disagreed as he could see in the girl's eyes that she really wanted her friend brought back home. "Are dere any…_special_ questions you wish t' ask de fille when I see her?"

"Here." Kitty held out a piece of paper with a bunch of questions scribbled down in blue ink. "You can just give that to her if you don't want to actually ask them to Rogue's face."

Taking the paper, Gambit read over the questions quickly and snorted. "I'll be glad t' ask her de questions. Is dere anyt'ing else or are you goin' t' tell me where I can find de Rogue?"

"She's in South Carolina."

**Thank you to: Fiona12690, xpoisonedxangelx, DaughterofDeath, pinapplehead, ME, ishandahalf, TheDreamerLady, Me 55, and EmeraldKatsEye**


	14. Story Time

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

It was rare, now that Kurt thought about it, to have a photo that had Rogue in it. He just happened to be among the few people who had a picture with her in it. Granted it had all of the X-Men, the Brotherhood, and Magneto's men, so Rogue's face was tiny and a bit hidden amongst the several other faces.

Smiling gently at the picture, Kurt set it aside with a rueful sigh. Kurt had just found out a few hours ago that he and Kitty were the only two students receiving counseling for Rogue's disappearance.

When Scott had told Kurt the news, Kurt almost laughed at the irony of the situation. First, the Professor wants to counsel all the students so that they all know how to behave towards Rogue when-rather if-she returned to the mansion. Now, the Professor found the counseling sessions useless. To say the least, it hadn't surprised Kurt terribly.

"Zree veeks," Kurt muttered, fingering the picture as it laid on his nightstand. "She's been gone zree veeks and you still can't get over it. Rogue, vherever you are, I hope zat vhatever you're doing gets done soon so you can come home."

With two weeks having gone by since Kitty had asked a favor from that Cajun one would have thought that the man would have left New York, but no. Gambit was still in Westchester and he still lurked about the high school on some days.

Kurt knew this because in trigonometry he had a window seat and had spotted the Cajun stalking about or leaning against a tree. What was his reason for doing all that when he should have been in ---, South Carolina speaking with Rogue?!

It was seriously getting on Kurt's nerves to the point where he was tempted to skip class and teleport out of the school to have 'a word' with the Cajun. However, Kitty kept making-Kurt called them excuses-reasons as to why Gambit was still in New York. Kurt refused to buy into any reason but that the man was lazy.

Teleporting off his bed, Kurt reappeared in front of his closet and opened the doors. At the bottom of the closet laid a ragged backpack already packed with clean clothes and all of Kurt's saved allowance from his German parents.

Reaching out to grab the back, Kurt stopped for a moment as he heard the knob of his door begin to turn.

Quickly closing his closet doors, Kurt teleported underneath the covers of his bed and pretended to be asleep as the door opened.

"Kurt, it's time for sup…oh…" came Kitty's voice. She saw the lump underneath the blankets of the bed and assumed that the elf was fast asleep. "I'll leave you to sleep."

Quietly, Kitty exited the room, closing the door silently behind her.

Once Kurt heard the soft click of the door, Kurt sat up in bed. _Maybe I should talk vith ze Cajun before I decide to go after Rogue,_ Kurt decided. _I'll speak vith him after school and if he's not leaving soon zen I'll go see Rogue for myself._

With this rock-hard resolution in place, Kurt got out of bed and mused his hair a bit for a disheveled appearance before he went downstairs for dinner. He was hungry after all, a fact his stomach continued to remind him.

* * *

It was 9 pm and Rogue was sitting outside on the porch swing, rocking back and forth as she laid staring up at all the stars she could see, trying to make out as many constellations as she could. Astrology was never much of an enticement for Rogue, but there were times when she liked to just sit around and test her knowledge of the stars.

Her knowledge of stars was very little as the only constellations she could name were 'The Big Dipper', 'The Little Dipper', and 'Orion'.

_Ah'm so pathetic,_ she stated, laughing a bit at her lack of knowledge.

"Rogue," Marian's voice broke through the quietness of the night.

"Hey," replied Rogue, cocking her head toward the woman. "Ah'm sorry."

An inquiring expression took over Marian's features as she cranked her head to the side. "What do ya need to apologize for? You haven't done anythin' that Ah can think of that ya need to apologize for."

"For chasin' all of the local customers away with mah powers," clarified Rogue, adverting her eyes back toward the sky. It hadn't taken long before the entire town had heard about Rogue's powers and the prejudice had started. So far though there had been very few threats but there were always the fearful, disdainful looks that people gave Rogue.

"Ah…that," Marian nodded in understanding, "don' worry about it Rogue. Ah have told as many people as possible that there were no 'powers' in the incident. Only that Sydney had frightened ya and ya punched him unconscious. Ah think that explanation will be believed more firmly than the truth, especially since children with their imaginations have a knack for makin' up stories."

Rogue snorted her doubt.

"Either way, we still have our tourist customers an' Lucas with his friends, especially Sydney." There was a hint of suggestion in Marian's voice.

In response, Rogue glared at Marian a bit until the smile on Marian's face found its way onto Rogue's.

"Mind if Ah sit with ya?"

Sitting up, Rogue made room for her friend, who was currently wearing rubber gloves since she had been washing the dishes, a task that hadn't been done in over four days.

"Takin' a break?" teased Rogue as Marian sat down with a sigh of relief.

"Ah had forgotten how much work it is to actually do the dishes. Next time, you're in charge of them, you've been here long enough that ya can start taking some responsibility for cleanin'," Marian stated, leaning back on the swing and putting an arm on the back. "What a beautiful night."

Rogue didn't reply, but she nodded her agreement numbly, as her thoughts were elsewhere.

"Marian?"

"Mmh?" Cocking her head toward Rogue, Marian saw that the girl's head was tilted down and she was staring at her gloved hands.

Opening her mouth to say something, Rogue closed it and shook her head, deciding to say something else. "How did ya meet yer husband?" Rogue inquired casually.

Sensing that was not what the teen had meant to ask Marian raised an eyebrow before answering. "Ah met him at the diner; his father owned an' ran the place. When his dad died about ten years ago the diner was entrusted to my husband and me in joint ownership. However, when that happened, James, my husband, had been gone for three months."

"He left ya?!" Rogue hadn't expected that, if nothing else she would have thought that Timothy's dad was killed somehow. "Do ya know why?!"

Marian held up a hand to signal for Rogue to stop before she ran too far with her train of thought. "No, not at all. James didn't leave me like how you're thinkin' he did. James had to leave, that's what he claimed, for one of his former students was havin' trouble an' called upon my husband for assistance," Marian explained and Rogue gave her a dubious look. "That was probably the same look Ah gave him when Ah heard that story."

"Why would a former student call up yer husband?" Rogue questioned, still maintaining her dubious expression.

"As Ah told ya James was a psychology teacher at the high school, an' well, my husband had several degrees in the area of psychology an' psychiatry. Knowin' this, the student requested my husband for assistance with a patient; the student was at the time a psychiatrist. The patient was having some difficulty…adjustin' to his…new situation in life," continued Marian, having paused to find the appropriate words.

"Ya mean the patient was a mutant," assumed Rogue, staring down at her gloves. "Like meh."

Pulling over a glove, Marian reached over and took Rogue's hand, giving it a comforting, motherly squeeze. "There's nothin' wrong with that in the least, for that makes ya who ya are. Come here an' tell me a story about ya," Marian smiled, pulling Rogue toward her.

Rogue hesitated, taking time to assess the situation. There was no skin showing on Marian for she was wearing a long-sleeved turtle neck and one rubber glove, about the only area of skin exposed was her one hand and face, but Rogue could avoid those areas fairly well.

Slowly, Rogue lowered her head to rest on Marian's shoulder while the older woman's gloved hand stoked Rogue's hair in a soothing, motherly manner.

"What would ya like to know, seein' as we're no longer 'strangers'?" Rogue inquired, still a bit stiff with paranoia.

"Well, how about boys?" suggest Marian, feeling Rogue unconsciously tense up at the subject. "Oh, Ah can see that this is a topic that is truly goin' to be worth hearin'. Tell me as much as ya would like."

Where should Rogue start? Should she even go into her ineffective love life? Sure, there was that crush on Scott, which still stood strong in Rogue, somewhere deep inside of her, despite the fact that Jean and Scott were an official couple.

Sensing that Rogue was not going to willingly talk about the subject, Marian decided to just ask questions until Rogue found herself sort of rambling. "Well, do ya like any boys?"

A small smile cracked on Rogue's lips. "Yes."

"What's his name?"

"Scott Summers," Rogue answered, closing her eyes to enjoy the sensation of Marian's hand brushing through her hair, even if it was with rubber gloves.

"Scott Summers," Marian echoed, testing the name out a bit. "Ah like that name, Scott, it's a classic name an' rarely do Ah actually hear of someone young with that name. Is he cute?"

Shaking with silent laughter, Rogue nodded, "He's very cute; in fact, he's rather on the handsome side especially when his bangs fall the right way on his face and when he gets that appreciative smile on his face…" Rogue stopped and blushed a bit as she realized what she was saying and how easily she had began to just randomly describe the X-men leader.

Marian grinned down at the child, for Rogue had subconsciously relaxed on the woman's shoulder.

"What is Scott like? Personality wise," asked Marian in a low voice.

"Very kind, undiscriminatin' for the most part, smart as far as strategy but Ah'm not sayin' he's lacking academically," Rogue listed, realizing again that she was rambling. "In fact, he was really the only person to truly try to become mah friend after mah powers were discovered."

"Wow, what a guy," remarked Marian, generating a very pretty picture of this Scott character.

"Yeah," Rogue agreed softly, "what a guy with a girlfriend." Marian looked down at Rogue in surprise. "Scott's been in love with this girl, Jean Grey, for longer than Ah've known him an', well, they finally got together a little bit before graduation last year."

Able to empathize with Rogue's position, having been a teenager once herself, Marian gave Rogue a small hug but had to stop herself from kissing the top of Rogue's head.

"Ah…well, is there someone else?" Marian inquired.

"No," Rogue said quickly. "No one else."

"Are ya certain? Not even someone who might show ya interest but you're not interested?" offered Marian, getting the impression that there was someone else but Rogue didn't like the boy.

Narrowing her eyes a bit, Rogue shrugged.

"What's his name?"

"Gambit."

**Yes, another 'cliffhanger'-although, I'm not quite certain anyone would call this a cliffhanger.**

**Thank you to: Fiona12690, DaughterofDeath, TheDreamerLady, EvilWhiteRaven, ishandahalf, EmeraldKatsEye, and Alyssa-Anime-Angel. Thank you all very much for your support, I know this chapter has been a long time coming. **


	15. Carol's Favor

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

**I know it's been such a long time since I last updated, but I'm hoping to get in another two chapters before I go to ****Tennessee**** for my band trip during spring break.**

Just as he had planed, Kurt skipped his fifth period class and teleported outside by the bleachers where the Cajun seemed to be found lurking about lately. Sure enough, Kurt found Gambit standing underneath the bleachers, out of sight, shuffling his cards.

"I was beginnin' ta wonder when you were goin' ta approach me," Gambit spoke up, still shuffling his cards indifferently as Kurt hung upside down behind him.

"Vhat are you still doing here? I zought you said you were going to go after Rogue," Kurt reminded a bit harshly. He still wanted answers for Gambit's lack of action, not to play silly verbal games.

Gambit sighed, "Calm down my fuzzy friend, when de Gambit took dis job he didn't dink it would be dis hard ta take a day or two off. You must remember dat de Gambit works for Magneto an' without Magneto's say de Gambit can't leave for a few days."

"Okay…" Kurt trailed. "So, vhat do ve do now?"

"_We_ don't do anyt'ing, _I_ am goin' ta be stayin' in New York for a few more days den Gambit has a week ta chase after de Rogue," explained the Cajun, putting his cards away as though to state that the conversation was closed.

"So, you're still going to go after Rogue?" Kurt asked to make certain he had understood the man correctly.

"Dat's de plan, jus' dought you'd like ta know," the Cajun stated with a little wave as he strolled away from the bleachers.

Biting his lower lip, Kurt flipped so that he was standing upright on the ground and watched Magneto's lackey leave the school grounds. Despite all the reasons Kurt could list against letting the Cajun go after Rogue, he was grateful that it was Gambit rather than someone like Scott or Jean.

_I jus' vish it vas me going instead,_ he thought, teleporting in the school, holding out his hall pass in case any teacher decided to stop him.

* * *

"Lucas?" she asked from behind the counter of the bookstore as the Scottish man sat in a leather armchair, quietly thinking. "Lucas, what are you thinking?" It truly unnerved Carol Danvers when her boyfriend wouldn't give her some idea of what was going through his head.

There were just so many different subjects that could have been coursing through the man's brain, making it difficult to figure out what he was thinking.

"Lucas, answer me," Carol warned, about ready to grab the nearest book and throw it at her boyfriend, even if it was futile. She knew his powers of telepathy, control over fire, and telekinesis-which he would use to stop the book and set it on the table in front of him.

"What do you think of her?" Lucas replied vaguely, but Carol understood who he was referring to. It was that one gothic girl, Rogue, who just one day appeared and had captured Lucas' attention for some stranger reason. Carol personally didn't see what was special about Rogue, but Lucas did and that was all that mattered, for now.

"Do you want me to be honest or would you like me to pretend to be honest?" Carol retorted, opening the box of new books and scanning through the titles to lay aside for her personal reading.

Lucas stared at her from his seat and watched Carol with cool, calculating eyes before he got to his feet and strutted over to the counter. The entire time he kept his eyes trained upon Carol as she moved about, trying to ignore him.

Even Lucas had to give the girl credit for ignoring for as long as she did but he knew that it was only a matter of seconds before she would give in and answer his question without him having to answer hers.

As expected, Carol looked up and sighed in resignation. "She seems to be an okay girl, but seriously, you never told us what is so special about her. We know what her powers are but why is she so important to you? You aren't attracted to her, are you?" questioned Carol leaning forward a bit.

Chuckling a bit, Lucas leaned in, keeping his face close enough to Carol's face to the point that it would be distracting to most normal people. It was a game of wills and Carol wasn't about to give in anytime soon.

"If I was attracted to her beyond her charming looks, would I still have you as my girlfriend?" he replied, making certain that his warm breath caressed Carol's lips to taunt her.

Resisting the urge to close her eyes and sigh in the utter romantic, teenaged way. If she did somehow break contact or show weakness in anyway she would lose this battle of wills, like she normally did.

"Of course not, but as your girlfriend I would like to be kept in the loop of your little plans," Carol told him, trying hard not to let Lucas' proximity effect her in any sort of way.

"Oh…I'll let you in," assured Lucas with his mischievous smirk, "when the time is right." He said it as though there was one certain point in time when all of Lucas' plans would be laid out upon the table for the group to know. "Now is not the time, but soon. However, I do need you to befriend Rogue and…persuade her to join our little family, otherwise I might be forced to use less than respectable means of persuasion."

Carol lost the battle of wills as she backed away from the counter and glared at Lucas. "You're not going to use Marian or Timothy in these 'less than respectable persuasions' are you?" she demanded coldly.

"That would be why I'm asking you to give Rogue that extra push to our ranks. Morph is making some headway but he is attached to the girl on a more intimate level than what I would like him to be," answered Lucas, a bit vaguely for Carol's liking.

"Lucas, Marian is almost like a second mother to me, I refuse to let you use her to force some girl to join our group of mutants," warned Carol, suddenly feeling an invisible pull at her body until she was dragged against the wall.

Pinned against the wall, Carol didn't bother to struggle too much; she knew all too well the kind of power Lucas possessed. Instead she watched as Lucas maneuvered around the counter and came up to her, tracing Carol's jaw.

"Come love, I would like to avoid harm to the mother and her boy, that's why I'm asking for your help rather than just using force," whispered Lucas into Carol's ear. "Now, be a dear, and do this for me."

Taking a deep breath, Carol closed her eyes tightly before nodding. "Fine, I'll give Rogue some helpful advice," agreed Carol, feeling Lucas' telekinesis lessen slowly.

When she felt no pull on her whatsoever, Carol adjusted her shirt and glanced out the shop window to see Morph making his way toward the diner despite the fact that he had 'volunteer work' to do.

"My, looks as though Morph is already a step ahead of you Lucas, he's on his way over to the diner," Carol pointed out, shifting her eyes from the window to her boyfriend.

Growling a bit, Lucas spun around to see an instant of Morph's moving figure.

"That idiot, I told him not to see her alone anymore," Lucas sighed. "We'll have to finish this discussion later love; I have to make sure that Morph doesn't try anything compromising…"

* * *

Rogue swept the floor while Marian handled the few customers that they had at the moment, and Timothy was sitting at the counter doing his homework like he was told to.

She couldn't help it; a small smile had been gracing Rogue's lips for almost the entire day. After her little discussion with Marian the night before, and finally getting to know the woman's history while sharing her own tragic love life, Rogue felt as though a heavy burden was beginning to lift from her.

For the first time in a long time, Rogue actually felt like she belonged and it wasn't due to her living in a mansion full of other mutants; no, she felt that she was actually accepted and maybe even loved by Marian and Timothy for who she was.

It was a great feeling, to be accepted.

The bell on the door rang, behind Rogue, but she kept on sweeping until she felt someone press up against her back and two hands were placed on top of hers. She didn't need to guess who it was. There was only one person in the town who would take every opportunity to get as close to Rogue as her powers would allow.

"Morph…let go," ordered Rogue, the broom still moving, and it wasn't Rogue's doing either.

"Aw…come on Rogue darling, I skipped out of volunteer hours to see you. Aren't you in least bit flattered?" Morph pouted, refusing to let go.

"How badly do ya wish to go into a _coma_?" Rogue asked; emphasizing coma to mean that she would use her powers if it meant getting Morph to let her go.

Letting go, Morph moved around Rogue so that he stood in front of her. "Done by your touch or by other means?" he returned with a playful grin and wink.

"Other means," retorted Rogue, she didn't plan on repeating the accident outside of Timothy's school anytime soon. She wished to avoid using her powers at all cost.

"That's no fun," sighed Morph.

"Sydney," Marian interrupted, "did ya need somethin' hon, or are ya here to harass my employee?"

"Volunteer hours, Marian," replied Morph, turning his charming smile onto the older woman.

Marian wasn't buying the reasoning. She didn't give out volunteer hours unless there were masses of customers in the diner, which there were at that moment. It was no secret either; she advertised it to all the high school students who were in search of volunteer time.

"Volunteer hours, funny, Ah don't remember informin' the school that Ah was offerin' any this year seein' as Ah have an extra hand an' all," Marian responded, turning Morph into a slightly stammering teen as he search for another excuse. "Go sit at the counter an' help Timothy or somethin', just stop botherin' Rogue so much!"

"Yes ma'am," Morph saluted, going over to the counter and taking a seat that offered him the best view of Rogue.

Not used to having someone seek out her attention or try so hard to engage her interest, Rogue felt a bit uncomfortable with Morph watching her work. What was it about her that attracted him to her? Was it the fact that she couldn't touch? The fact that she pushed him away whenever he ever tried to get physically or even sometimes emotionally close to her? Or was it because Rogue rejected his attentions?

Returning to her sweeping near the door, Rogue saw Lucas lurking about around the corner.

_Or is he tryin' to get mah attention so that Ah'll join the mutant club?_ Rogue wondered, glancing back at Morph then at where she had seen Lucas._ What do they want with meh?_

**Thank you to: ishandahalf, Chica De Los Ojos Cafe, EmeraldKatsEye, Jason, enchantedlight, Phasmatis of priscus dea Isis, milo, and DeadSparrow. You guys are great! **


	16. Morph's Affections

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

"Why don't ya just leave her alone?" Timothy muttered toward Sydney as he did his homework.

The older teen just shrugged with a smirk at his lips, "Why should I?" He leaned over to Timothy and whispered conspiratorially, "Besides, ever think that I might actually _like_ the girl?"

Timothy snorted, he knew Sydney's habits concerning love; he flirted in his own antagonizing manner, played the class clown, and drove the girl away or drove her insane enough to kiss him before realizing that there was someone better than Sydney out there.

"Leave Rogue alone, she doesn't even like ya," Timothy warned his tone a bit threatening. "You're nothin' but trouble for her anyways, so just drop the act and find yer next crush."

Sydney looked offended, placing a hand over his heart as though he had just been wounded. "Ouch! That's was uncalled for Timmy, you shouldn't presume that my feelings and interest in Rogue is all an act."

Rolling his eyes, Timothy went back to his homework, he had to make progress on something and Math seemed to be more promising than Sydney.

"Turn that up Joe!" Sydney requested, turning to yell at Joe, who had the radio playing softly in the kitchen.

As requested, Joe did turn up the radio and the diner was filled with the sounds of 'Fishing in the Dark,' a somewhat old, "country" song that didn't sound country at all. Timothy groaned; he couldn't stand the fact that his uncle listened to country only when there _were_ other types of music on the radio in South Carolina.

Marian, upon hearing Sydney request the music to be turned up, whipped her head around to scold the young man until she heard the song and noted how the customers did not seem to mind the music; she shrugged it off. One is only young once so she figured she'd let Sydney have his fun for the afternoon.

"You and me going fishing in the dark, lying on our backs and counting the stars…where the cool grass grows," sang Sydney as he got off his chair and danced his way toward Rogue, who tried not to notice his approach.

Rogue couldn't help but notice Sydney when he was directly in front of her, keeping her broom from sweeping at the dirt on the floor.

"What are ya doin'?" she demanded.

Snatching the broom away from Rogue, Morph propped it up against the nearest table as he kept singing the song. "Down by the river in the full moon light, we'll be fallin' in love in the middle of the night, just movin' slow...stayin' the whole night through, feels so good to be with you."

"Morph…" Rogue began in a warning tone as she backed away from the teen.

Taking advantage of Rogue's unnerved behavior, Morph grabbed her closest hand and pulled her close to him. Casually resting his hand on her waist, Sydney led Rogue in a little dance while singing.

Rogue had danced a total number of five times in her life and only once with a guy, Cody…

"Let go of meh," hissed Rogue threw clenched teeth.

With a grin, Morph twirled Rogue under his arm then pulled her back in close by him, making Rogue even more grateful that she wasn't wearing her off the shoulder shirt. Still despite the piece of cloth between her skin and Morph's, Rogue felt uncomfortable with his hands upon her waist.

"Morph, let meh go," she warned again before he could spin her around, twirl her under his left arm, then under his right, and dip her.

"Come on Rogue, loosen up a bit, and have a little bit of fun," Morph stated, waggling an eyebrow a bit along with a charming grin. Pulling Rogue upright from the dip position, Morph saw the impressed yet scolding look Timothy was giving him.

"Ya should really let go of meh sugah, before Lucas kills ya," Rogue whispered in Morph's ear after she caught sight of the Scottish man standing at the door. He must have entered while Morph had been leading Rogue in the dance.

Instantly, Sydney stiffened and released Rogue, giving her a tense smile.

"That's not funny Rogue," Morph whispered, "he's a lot more powerful than what he leads on about."

Rogue's eyes widened slightly but she prevented from questioning Morph further when his smile became forced and his body more erect. "Lucas, how're ya doin' buddy?" Sydney greeted his friend, as the Scottish man came up behind Rogue.

Lucas casually placed a hand on Rogue's shoulder, much to her discomfort, and ignored Sydney's eyes slightly narrow into a glare. Noticing Morph's little glare and the cause of it, Lucas motioned with his hand to follow him.

"I need to have a word or two with you, Morph," Lucas told him, "privately."

Glancing at the hand Lucas still had on Rogue's shoulder and Rogue's uneasy expression, Morph mutely nodded. He was relieved when Lucas removed his hand from Rogue and headed toward the door.

Taking that as his cue to follow, Morph gave Rogue a gentle pat on her shoulder when he passed her.

Exiting the diner, Sydney glanced both left then right only to find Lucas leaning against a brick wall of a the neighboring building, which was a hair salon. Lucas just stood there with his arms crossed smugly yet irritated manner, Morph could see that this was not going to be a discussion he was going to enjoy.

Licking his lips nervously, Morph approached his boss-like friend and stood before Lucas, plastering on his patent smile and carefree persona. It was all a front and Morph knew it was a useless front since Lucas could read minds.

"What the hell were you doing in there?" Lucas demanded coolly rather than inquired.

Morph's smile faltered for a moment before he recovered. "I was in there to ask about volunteer hours and Joe had the radio on, so I began singing and dancing and…" Morph was extending and bending the truth, and he knew it, but he wasn't about to blurt out to Lucas that he had gone in the diner to strictly see Rogue, and perhaps try to flirt with her in his unique way.

"Let me guess, and Rogue just happened to be the closest person to you to dance with," offered Lucas with a smirk.

"Yeah," nodded Morph, praying that Lucas was buying into his slight fib.

Lucas' smirk faded into a scowl. "Don't take me lightly Morph, you may know what my powers are but you have no idea what I am capable of doing," he growled, causing Morph's grin to disappear and tremble a bit in fear.

Satisfied with the effect of his statement, Lucas added in a lighter tone, "The next time I tell you to leave someone alone, you do." Numbly, Morph nodded. "Good, now I have Carol taking care of Rogue, helping her decide a bit quicker. What I need you to do, other than leave her alone, is to keep a watch out for anyone suspicious who may be looking for the girl."

"Why would anyone be looking for Rogue?" Morph inquired, perplexed.

"She's a runaway, someone is bound to come looking for her but I don't want that someone, whoever it may be, to find her. Tell me when someone does come looking for Rogue and I shall deal with that person, personally," explained Lucas, his easy-going grin becoming a twisted sneer of anticipation.

"What do you plan on doing with this person?" Morph questioned, watching Lucas with suspicious eyes. What was the man planning?

"Oh…nothing damaging," he shrugged carelessly. Then he muttered, "Just going to set up some bait for the good Professor X."

Still eyeing Lucas with suspicion, Morph had the disturbing feeling that his friend was hiding his true intentions from him. The intentions Morph felt from Lucas were anything but wholesome and peaceful.

* * *

Rogue laid on the couch that night, flickering through the few stations that Marian had for the family television. There was nothing of real enjoyment on television.

_Of course there's not gonna be anythin' good on, it's late at night an' it's local stations,_ Rogue scolded herself, setting the remote down when she found something that looked slightly promising.

"Ah would've thought ya'd be asleep by now," Marian's voice laughed from the staircase, startling Rogue momentarily.

"Ah couldn't sleep," Rogue shrugged as she watched Marian move toward her from the corner of her eye. The older woman came over and sat down at the end of the couch on the blanket by Rogue's feet.

"Wanna talk about it?" Marian offered, resting an elbow on the back of the couch and resting her head against her hand.

Pulling the blanket closer to her, Rogue shook her head negatively. She didn't quite know what was causing her to be unable to sleep. It could have been a number of things; the top one being Lucas and Morph's strange behavior, another being how no one had come looking for her from the institution-_They must know where Ah am after that incident with Morph._

"Come on, confession, good for the soul an' all," urged Marian with that reassuring smile of hers as she playfully slapped Rogue's covered feet.

Still Rogue shook her head.

"Alright than Ah'll jus' have to guess what's eatin' at ya," sighed Marian, biting her lip in contemplation. "Now what could it be…? Ah wonder…"

Rogue watched Marian as she tapped a finger against her chin and chewed on her lower lip. The teenaged girl knew that if anyone was to figure out exactly what was wrong with her, it would be Marian, the woman had an uncanny ability to read people like open books.

"Well, it could be that you're either disturbed or confused by Sydney's 'affections' for ya, despite knowin' that you're a mutant," she suggested. "Or…it could always be that ya miss ya home, New York."

Rogue halted in curling her toes. _Could that be it?_ she wondered. _Do Ah miss the mansion an' what about the others? Do Ah miss them as well?_

In the past weeks, Rogue hadn't thought too much about the X-mansion or it's inhabitance except when she was speaking to Marian about her crush on Scott and about the Cajun who wouldn't leave her alone. In fact, Rogue had pushed all and any thoughts of New York out of her mind as much as possible.

Shifting uneasily on the couch, Rogue crossed her arms in defiance, yet she didn't deny Marian's suggestion nor confirm it.

"Ah think Ah found the answer. Would ya like to tell me about yer home, the boardin' school?"

"It was a mansion…a crowded mansion," Rogue described vaguely.

"Crowded? Does Scott live there as well?" questioned Marian.

"Yeah, as well as Jean, his girlfriend, an' mah younger brother, Kurt Wagner," nodded Rogue, surprising the older woman with the mention of a brother.

Raising an eyebrow Marian voiced her thoughts. "You have a brother? Wow…"

"He's not mah biological brother, his mother adopted meh when Ah was four an' Ah never knew until last year. Before Ah moved to the mansion Ah was livin' with this blind woman named Irene." Rogue felt a foul taste build up in her mouth at the mention of Mystique, especially when the name and the title 'mother' were all linked to this woman who had betrayed and used her children time and time again.

Sensing the bitterness and edgy tone of the topic of Rogue's mother, Marian limited her response to a statement. "Sounds like ya haven't had the best experience with yer mother."

Noting how Marian had just stated her thoughts of Rogue's past rather than inquire about it, Rogue smiled gratefully at the woman.

"What of ya? How did ya end up in this town?" Rogue inquired, turning the subject far away from Mystique.

Marian got up and came up beside Rogue's head. "Move over, Ah want to lie down too."

Panic seized Rogue as she looked down at her attire, her orange draw-string pants with orange-green t-shirt. Instinctively, she shrunk in and pulled the blanket up to her nose to hide as much skin as she could.

Smiling comfortingly yet sympathetically, Marian pointed out, "Rogue, Ah'm in pants, Ah'm wearin' socks, Ah'm goin' to put up the hood of my robe, an' keep my hands on top of the blanket. There won't be any skin touching skin, Ah promise."

The teenaged girl seemed unconvinced for several seconds until she slowly lowered the blanket and scotched over to the back of the couch, on her side.

"Thank you," Marian said as she slipped under the blanket and on the couch, putting up her hood as promised and keeping her hands on top of the blanket while Rogue's were under the blanket.

"Now this is going to be one hell of a long story an' Ah don't want ya to comment until the very end, okay?" Marian warned and Rogue nodded her understanding. "Ah was a couple years younger than yourself when Ah hopped on a bus and ended up here, four months pregnant with my first son, Jonathan."

Rogue's eyes widened considerably.

"Yeah, my husband met me when Ah was pregnant with another man's child, an' that other guy had dumped me well before Ah ran away when he found out Ah was pregnant. James didn't care that Ah had made a mistake or that Ah was pregnant with another man's child, he still loved me for who Ah was. My…how Ah love that man," Marian smiled, staring off as though she could picture her husband in front of them.

Shaking her head a bit, Marian recalled herself to her tale.

Laughing bitterly, Marian continued, "If there's one thing ya've got to understand about this town, Rogue, it's that back when Ah first arrived, and even today, people are very traditional. Ah being pregnant out of wedlock was quite the scandal for the longest time and Ah was met with a lot of persecution, and not just from the older folks. No, while at school teachers and students alike would torment me, and James was my only protection along with his family."

Marian looked down at Rogue with a sort of grief tainted smile.

"So ya see Rogue, you an' Ah aren't very different in this town. We both have, or had in my case, faced persecution, but people get over things soon enough in this town. Their fear of ya will pass shortly an' this place will hopefully start to feel like home to ya."

There was a moment of silence that passed between the two women and Rogue laid there with her mouth hanging open in surprise.

Clearing her throat, Marian rose from the couch and with an uneasy chuckle, "Ah should go upstairs to bed, and you should get some sleep."

Not receiving an answer from Rogue, Marian turned around and made her way toward the staircase.

"Marian," Rogue spoke up, stopping the older woman, "you're right, we are alike, an' if it's any consolation, Ah think you're a great mother. Ah wish mah mother was more like ya."

"Good night Rogue," Marian smiled, genuinely.

"Night Marian."

**Thank you to: moonshine4352, Chica De Los Ojos Cafe, Cult-of-Misha, ishandahalf, Jason, Minnaloushe, Alyssa-Anime-Angel, TheDreamerLady, and enchantedlight.**

**You guys are fabulous!**


	17. Untimely Appearance

Learning to Deal

**I** don't own **X-Men** Evolution (or **X-Men** for that **matter**) characters or **anything** concerning the **show**, comics, ect. **No** suing! Be **civil** in reviews (**if **there are **any**).

**Yeah, I know, this update has been a long time coming. I've been lazy. Okay, the next update will be June 4th, I have some previous engagements that are making it difficult for me to update sooner than that, but if I can update sooner I will.**

Stepping off the bus into the midday sun and heat of the southern states, Remy cursed the bus driver being an overweight, buffoon who the Cajun couldn't smooth talk his way into taking him the rest of the way toward Charleston for free. Cursing his employer for paying him in hundreds and fifties, Remy smoothed back his hair and began to walk along side the road toward this town Rogue was in.

Judging by the last sign he had seen, the town was about a good 75 miles away, meaning that Remy ought to reach the town at about five in the evening, if not a bit later depending on his speed and if someone decided to offer him a ride.

Taking a bottle of water out of his military sack, Remy took a swig and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. It was a bit hot out, but that was no surprise as it was early June, school was going to be letting out for summer break in a week or two.

_Well Cherie, you are well worth dis chase. I jus' hope you ain't goin' be so hard t' find in dis town.

* * *

_

"Tomorrow's Timothy's birthday?" Rogue repeated Joe's words as she cleaned the dishes. She had come to the decision for Marian that if the diner was to get more customers it was best that Rogue not be seen, and it worked. With Timothy or even one of the high school volunteers running Rogue's tables more people were eating at the diner.

"That's right, Ah take it Marian hadn't said anythin' to you yet," Joe stated, dicing tomatoes. "She must have bought him somethin' that is meant to be from you already. Ah would have thought that with how close you two were gettin' that Marian would have told you about the birthday."

Looking out into the diner at where Timothy was taking an order for two elderly customers, Rogue inquired, "What sort of things does Timothy like? Like, what is he interested in?"

"The normal things a young man should be interested in; girls, cars, video games, movies…," here Joe chuckled, "explosives."

Rogue sighed, she had no idea what kind of games or movies that Timothy wanted or would possibly like.

"Although," added Joe, "Ah've noticed that Timothy has taken up a few new interests. Like earlier this week Ah found him readin' a couple of Batman comics. Then last week Ah found him readin' this book, Ah think it was a play, 'The Forty Thieves'. He seemed to be fairly engrossed in it."

"Really?" Rogue was impressed to find a young man such as Timothy might actually be interested in plays, especially ones beyond Shakespeare.

"Yeah, Ah personally never cared for comics or plays. Ah detest plays especially, never saw the point in 'em," Joe stated, then noticing Rogue's inquiring look continued, "Ah mean, to me, it seems that plays are exactly like movies but live action. So plays are basically superfluous."

Rogue nodded in understanding at the man's opinion but she shared a different view on plays.

"Then comics are too influential. They're part of the reason young'uns today go around killin' people and committin' other violent crimes," Joe explained.

Personally, Rogue wasn't of that opinion. She thought the whole idea of comics making kids commit violent crimes as some sort escape goat so that people didn't have to take responsibility for their own actions.

Glancing at the clock, Rogue saw that it read 4:40 pm; there was still time to go to this bookstore she had found a week ago and was interested in checking it out. "Do ya think Marian would be upset if Ah asked for a break?"

Pretending to check the clock, Joe grunted, "Ah doubt she'll mind as long as you're back here by 5:30, when the real rush hour hits. We need as many clean dishes as we can get."

"Thanks." Taking off her apron, Rogue hung it on the coat rack on the door before exiting the kitchen. She found Marian behind the counter taking an order from a truck driver stopping in town, just her luck.

Coming up beside Marian, Rogue patiently waited for the driver to give his order and for Marian to take it all down.

"What's up Rogue?" Marian inquired, ripping off the order slip and sticking it onto the ordering wheel.

"Ah was wonderin' if Ah could possibly take an hour off," Rogue stated, causing Marian to spin around to her. This was the first time Rogue had ever requested for a break so it was expected to be a surprise to her boss.

"What do ya plan to do with that time?" Marian inquired, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow. "Ah hope you're not goin' to sneak off to see some guy because that wouldn't sound like you, Rogue."

The young girl's eyes widened with mortification. "No, nothin' like that, Ah jus' want to…" Rogue glanced at Timothy before lowering her voice. "Ah jus' want to go shoppin' fer a present fer Timothy's birthday tomorrow."

It was Marian's turn to have widened eyes. "Ah take it Joe told ya." Rogue nodded. "Well, Ah already bought somethin' ya can say is from you…"

"No, Ah want to give 'im somethin' that's from meh, somethin' Ah can say Ah picked out an' knew he'd like," Rogue explained in a low voice.

Marian leaned against the countered and glanced at her watch, then sighed in defeat. Who was she to deny the girl, especially since the break was to get something for her son?

"Alright, but ya be back by 5:30. Do ya need any money?" Marian questioned, digging into her pocket for some spare cash.

"No, Ah have some saved up," smiled Rogue, about to take off for the door.

"Whoa, hang on there for a moment, Rogue. Ah want ya to drop this off at home for me while yer out," Marian requested, bending under the counter and grabbing a package wrapped in newspaper. "Go out the back so that Timothy doesn't see ya."

"Thanks," grinned Rogue, taking the package and heading back into the kitchen to go out the back door. Exiting out of the back door, Rogue found herself in the back alley that she had gone down only twice before. _Left or right? Okay, Timothy said that home was the direction the dumpster was on and the main street in the direction the trashcans were on._

Looking about, Rogue found the dumpster on her right and the trashcans on the left.

Thinking it best to go buy the present first, Rogue went left, toward the main street. Once on the street she made a right turn and saw the bookstore she wanted to go to down the sidewalk and across the street.

Strolling down the sidewalk, Rogue ignored all the wary glances and distrustful glares she received from the people she passed. Word always got around fast in small towns and this one was no exception. Everyone had heard about how Rogue had hurt Sydney James, they just didn't know how she had hurt him as their kids hadn't seen quite what happened or couldn't explain it.

Upon entering the store, Rogue wanted to turn around immediately but she was there for a gift or two for Timothy and it was the only bookstore that she knew of.

_If Ah known that one of Lucas' lackeys worked here Ah wouldn't have come,_ Rogue thought, hoping that the gothic, blond girl—Rogue was certain she was Carol Danvers—hadn't noticed her entrance.

Slipping as far back as possible, Rogue noticed that Lucas was lounging in the farthest corner of the store in the back, sitting in a leather chair. He appeared to not have noticed Rogue yet, as his back was turned to her and he seemed deeply engaged in reading whatever was in his lap.

Moving between two book shelves, Rogue stood there pretending to be browsing the books while desperately wanting out of the store and to be back in the safety of the diner. Why couldn't she keep away from this particular band of mutations? Why were they so interested in _her_?

"Can Ah help you?" offered a feminine voice. Immediately, Rogue could sense who the voice belonged to and she was not thrilled.

Turning to the girl, Rogue found her suspicions to be correct, it was Carol Danvers in front of her. "Sure, can ya meh where ya keep the poetry books?" _An' then leave meh alone an' pretend that Ah was never here,_ she added mentally. Rogue wanted to kick herself for forgetting that Lucas was a telepath and could have potentially have heard her thoughts.

Carol smiled one of those friendly, trusting smiles that made people want to trust the person, believe them to be an angel. However, Rogue refused to be deceived by the smile and the girl.

"This way," Carol indicated, leading the way toward one of the more centered rows of shelves that had a bold sign indicating the 'Poetry' section. "Anything in particular you wanted?"

"No, not really," Rogue said, looking at the spines of the plays for anything that sounded like a good read. Having hoped that Carol would have left her when she denied looking for something specific, but she didn't leave.

"You know," Carol whispered, "Lucas is a patient man but he is growing impatient with your indecision. So, what's keeping you from deciding whether or not you want to join us?"

Plucking off one play book, Rogue scanned through it and decided that Timothy might like it; the least he could do is give the play a try.

"Do ya have any comics by some perchance?" Rogue inquired, she had to stall some more time, at least until she was out of the store.

Unfazed, Carol nodded and led Rogue to the front of the store where there were several crates of bagged comics, all in excellent condition, as though they had been recently bought. Each box indicated what publishing company the comics were from and a separate two boxes with the label 'INDEPENDENT' on them.

Flipping through the DC comics, Rogue found more than just single issues of comics but some trade paperbacks, such as 'Superman: The Red Son'.

_Well, if Timothy likes to read Batman maybe he'll read Superman too,_ Rogue decided. "Ah'll take these."

Handing the book and comic to Carol, who took them and tried not to seem exasperated with Rogue. Going over to the cash register, Carol punched up the numbers and made a note about the Superman comic.

"Your total comes out to be $27.76," she informed Rogue, then leaned over the counter to try and catch her eye. "I know that we may seem like a group of bad kids but we're not. We don't do anything bad like vandalism. We just all have each others' backs in case the people start getting hostile toward us, then we can defend ourselves. Surely you can understand that, especially with what's been happening on the news and in DC…"

"Here's thirty," Rogue interrupted, handing Carol a two tens and two fives.

Taking the money, Carol slid back behind the counter and punched the amount given.

"Two twenty-four's your change," Carol reported, collecting the change from the cash register then handing it to Rogue. Bagging the book and comic, Carol handed the bag to Rogue, but before Rogue could snatch the back Carol caught her forearm. "Listen, just make certain that you don't wait too much longer in giving us an answer. Lucas is growing very impatient with you, and when Lucas is impatient he may do things."

"Thanks fer the advise but Ah'll let y'all know when Ah'm ready to tell ya," Rogue returned, yanking her arm out of Carol's grasp and taking the bag.

Exiting the store, Rogue walked with longer and faster strides until she was turned into the alley and was heading toward Marian's house. Once in the alley, Rogue slowed her pace and glanced down at her watch, it was nearing five. She had spent almost a half an hour in the book store and with one of Lucas' lackeys, Rogue felt she needed a bath.

_"He may do things."_

"What kind of things was she talkin' 'bout? What could he do to meh? He doesn't even know meh or anythin' 'bout meh!" Rogue growled, kicking a random rock down the alley. "The condition Ah made wit' 'em was that they weren't supposed to hound meh fer an answer."

With a scowl on her face and her eyes narrowed into a glare, many people watched Rogue with a mixture of apprehension and cautiousness when she turned onto the street Marian lived on.

_Why am Ah so important to 'em anyways? What do they actually want from meh? Mah powers? Surely they know how dangerous mah powers are, so why do they want meh?_ wondered Rogue, walking up the driveway of Marian's house until the houses blocked the sun.

"Hey Rogue!"

Jumping slightly, Rogue quickly composed herself before she turned around to see Morph across the street waving at her.

Glancing up and down the street to make certain that no more of Lucas' posse was about, apparently Morph had sought her out on his own. So, Rogue raised her hand lamely and returned the wave.

"Watch this, I finally got you down!" cried Morph as he shamelessly took on Rogue's form. It was amazing and yet creepy, Rogue felt like she was looking in a mirror that wasn't really there. "'What are ya doin'!"

He sounded exactly like her! Rogue was surprised. Sure, she had seen and experienced Mystique's ability to become others but she had never seen anyone become _her_. It was a bit awkward yet impressive, especially since Morph had her southern drawl correct.

As Rogue opened her mouth to comment, someone moved into her line of sight, blocking Morph. The person was wearing a familiar dark brown trench coat and steel plated boots, and the person had his back to the real Rogue.

"Dere you are, mon chere, I have finally found you," the person stated.

_Oh crap, that's Gambit!_ Rogue realized, biting her lower lip. What was she to do? _Hide in the house,_ she decided, making her way to the back door quietly but quickly.

Once she was certain she was out of sight, Rogue let out a sigh of relief, but still opened the doors and closed them quietly behind her. She didn't want to take any chances of the Cajun coming up the driveway and possibly seeing her.

"Oh mah gawd, what is _he_ doin' here?"

**Thank you to: enchantedlight, IvyZoe, roguewanderer, Minnaloushe, Shaishe, Chica De Los Ojos Cafe, jat, and TheDreamerLady. Thanks a lot guys.**


	18. Mistaken Identity

Learning to Deal

**I don't own X-Men Evolution (or X-Men for that matter) characters or anything concerning the show, comics, ect. No suing! Be civil in reviews (if there are any).**

**I know, I'm well overdue for this chapter. Gah! Hit a bit of a writer's block for while, but I punched through it. Okay, marching season is starting tomorrow for me, so, my next planned update is August 15th or 16th. Alright? Let's hope I can make that.**

He had found her! It happened by some accident or other, but one way or other he had finally found the gothic girl.

While the Cajun had been staggering down the street in hopes of getting beyond the small, suburban homes to a convenient store or diner he had heard her then saw _her_. She was in her new trademark outfit: dark purple, off the shoulder shirt with jeans that were ripped at the knees.

There was something different about her, something that Remy just could not quite place, but the goth seemed to somehow be a bit more confident as she smirked at a person across the street. Whoever she was smirking at, the Cajun could not see but was slightly jealous of.

_Dat is easily remedied,_ he thought, stepping into Rogue's line of sight. "Dere you are, mon chere, I have finally found you," he greeted, flashing her his lady-killer grin.

She blinked several times with her mouth hanging open. "Who're you?" she asked.

Chuckling a bit, Remy shook his head, "Now, Gambit knows you weren't expectin' him t' show up here, but here he is. So, dere's no need t' act like you don' know me, chere."

Rogue's expression began to change from bewilderment to something of realization and smugness, especially once an uncharacteristic smirk formed on her lips. "Course, what are ya doin' here?" she asked, glancing over Remy's shoulder.

Taking a peek over his shoulder at what she could possibly be looking at, there was no one over there but an empty driveway. _What was she lookin' at?_ he thought

"You never answered mah question," Rogue pointed out to him, causing Remy to return his attention to her.

This was not like Rogue, normally she would have told him to beat it by then, but she had yet to say it or somehow insult him, call him names; do anything to get him away from her. What was going on? Could she have changed so much since he had last seen her in New York? No, this was Rogue; she does not change for anyone, not even for Professor Xavier or Wolverine.

_Dere's always one way t' be sure,_ Remy reminded himself. Ignoring the possible consequences of his actions, Remy grabbed Rogue by the shoulders, pulled her up to him, and closed his eyes.

Not giving the girl anytime to react, other than a gasp, Gambit kissed her. Not one to be distracted from his objective, usually, the Cajun tried to take more notice in the fact that he was not feeling weakened in any way than the fact that the kiss did not feel like a kiss from a woman. Remy knew how most women kissed in several situations; they could be demanding, hungry, clumsy, timid, soft, or hard. This was very different.

Pushing away from the imposter, as Remy was more than aware that this person was not Rogue, he opened his eyes and felt his stomach give a lurch. Before him was not the gothic girl with auburn hair and a white stripe on either side her face but a teenaged boy wearing a face of disgust.

"Luh!" coughed the boy, wiping his mouth repeatedly. "Water! I need water! God, please tell me that's not how you kiss every girl you meet because if so, you need some major help."

Taking a few steps back from shock, mostly from the fact that this boy was a mutant who had openly used his powers in public. Then came the realization that not only was this guy a mutant but had the same abilities as Mystique thus why he had looked like a carbon copy of Rogue.

Remy was not at all disgusted that he had kissed a guy, there were more pressing matters to think about than the fact that he had shared a kiss with a member of the same sex while under the impression that he was kissing a girl by the name of Rogue. Plus, it had been the first time that Gambit had been fooled by someone taking on the form of Rogue, not even Mystique had tried that on him, yet. Although he would never put it past the blue skinned woman.

"Who are you?" he demanded of the teen, recovering from the overall shock.

Halting in mid-wipe, the boy sized up the Cajun with a cautious eye, which was understandable as Remy was a stranger and had kissed the guy, accidentally. "Depends on who wants to know. Who are you?"

"Gambit asked ya first," Remy pointed out.

"Well, Gambit," he practically spat out the name, "the name's Morph."

The Cajun raised a doubting eyebrow, the same way he had when he read through Rogue's profile. What parent named their children such names as 'Rogue' or 'Morph'? None that Remy knew, but then again, there were stranger names out there, like 'Pilot Inspektor'.

"Dat's not your real name," he stated.

Morph laughed, "I doubt 'Gambit' is _your_ real name."

He had a point, Remy had to admit it, at least in his mind, but then again the kid was not worthy to know _his_ name. Only the best looking girls got to know his name, among other things…

"What do you want with Rogue?" Morph inquired, crossing his arms. He did not really care who this guy with an accent was, he did not care too much that this guy had kissed him, but he did care what the guy's relationship with Rogue was and why he was looking for her.

From Morph's understanding, Rogue was a runaway and she did not particularly want to return to wherever she had come from. She had not talked about it with him, not that he blamed her, but he could put two and two together to get the overall picture.

"I'm jus' here t' say 'hi' t' de fille," shrugged the New Orleans man. There was no way that he was going to take the chance that Morph might be very good friends with Rogue and potentially warn her about his presence in town before Gambit got to see her. He could not have her running off again.

There was something about the stranger that Morph did not like, perhaps it was because he obviously knew Rogue and seemed to be _very_ close to the gothic girl despite her powers. _How can that be?_ he wondered. _She can't touch anyone, I thought._

"She ain't ever mentioned you before, or anyone else," he informed Gambit, crossing his arms to become a bit more intimidating. Somehow he got the feeling that he was not being very intimidating.

"Course not," nodded Gambit, condescendingly, this kid was getting annoying and noisy. "De fille don' like t' talk t' much, especially t' strangers." He had added the last portion to hopefully dissuade the young man from bothering him further. "Where is she?"

Swallowing hard, Morph unconsciously glanced over the Cajun's shoulder at Marian's house before realizing how stupid that had been. It was even more stupid because the stranger was beginning to catch on, if he had not already, and was starting to turn around.

_Crap, think!_ Morph growled to himself. "There she goes!" he shouted, pointing across the street before dashing off to the left, not really stopping to see if Gambit had fallen for the trick.

He hadn't. Remy sighed in exasperation as he coolly watched the younger man run down the sidewalk. Turning around to face the house across the street, the Cajun took in every detail of the place he could from the color of the house to the color of the curtains. It seemed to be a comfortable house but not something that Rogue would probably live in, willingly, unless she was at her rope's end.

_She would be needin' a place t' stay, so if I ask 'round someone is bound t' tell me who she is stayin' with or even where she is livin' at, _grinned Remy until he felt his stomach growl. "First t'ing's first, I need some food."

* * *

From inside the house, Rogue had been watching as much as she could while still hiding behind the door. She had seen Remy kiss Sydney while he had been in disguise as her. It caused her to gasp then break out into a fit of silent laughter, especially when Sydney converted back to his form during the kiss. The look of disgust on Sydney's face was just an added bonus.

"Oh mah gawd, thank ya Morph for keepin' yer mouth shut 'bout meh, hopefully," Rogue muttered as she watched Remy starting walking to the more central, active part of town where the stores and diners were.

Sighing in relief, Rogue went into the kitchen and took a glance at the clock on the wall; it read '5:25 pm'. Relief evaporated as Rogue began to realize that she was going to be late if she did not hurry.

Dashing out the door, Rogue quickly returned to hide the bag of her purchases under one of the couch cushions then made her way out of the house. She had to run down the alley in order to make it back to the diner for the rush hour and not be accidentally seen by the, now known to be in town, Cajun. That was one of the last things Rogue felt she needed after all her hard work to be kept under the radar.

_Great, now would've been an excellent time ta have Kurt's powahs,_ she thought as she sprinted down the alley, dodging the trash cans and kids riding bicycles or skate boarding. _Kids! Can't they see that Ah'm in a hurry!_

Coming up to the familiar backdoor of the diner, Rogue pulled open the door only to have Joe toss her an apron wordlessly. It was a silent instruction to get washing as soon as possible, and Rogue could see why with one glance at the sink. It was full with dirty dishes, some with leftover food still lying untouched on them.

Making a face, Rogue tied on her apron and rolled up her sleeves. She had to forgo wearing all her good clothes like her black skirt, sheer green shirt (and her red one), her skirt, and sleeveless shirt. Meaning that she was limited to her off the shoulder shirt and ripped jeans, or her green, hooded sweatshirt with black pants. At the moment she was in the former outfit.

Seeing that the sink was already filled with suds and hot water for her to use, Rogue grabbed the first glass and dunked her hands into the water. It was a bit too hot for her taste but she was not about to complain about that, especially _if_ she was late.

"Another order for ya, Joe," Marian's voice called out from the counter. "Hey, is Rogue back yet?"

"Yeah, Ah'm here," Rogue answered as Joe set down three plates for Marian to take to one of the many tables.

"Table ten's up," he announced, returning to his slicing, dicing, stirring, stewing, and garnishing. He was quite the accomplished chef, Rogue had to acknowledge, for being able to handle multiple orders all by himself. "Find wha' ya were lookin' for?"

Not used to having Joe talk with her, it took Rogue a moment to reply. "Yeah, Ah found 'im a few things that he might like."

"Good to know."

It was back to the comfortable, working silence between the gothic girl and chef, like normal. It was a real rarity that Joe would speak to Rogue, and it was even rarer for Rogue to try to get him to talk. It was quite obvious that Joe was wary of her, and Rogue couldn't blame him, and he just did not like her overall. All of this was fine with Rogue as long as he did not try to do anything…stupid, like attack her.

* * *

Out in the diner area, Marian served table ten's food with a wide grin on her face. It was good to know that Rogue was back in the kitchen, like she promised, and on time at that. It just proved to Marian what she already knew that she could trust Rogue not to run away from her again.

There was something comforting in Rogue's presence, something that Marian could not quite put a word to but she knew that she liked having the kid around. Plus, it was giving her a chance to share some of her own wisdom with another person, even if their situations were very different.

She had come to that town already pregnant, out of marriage, and ended up marrying the town's number one sweet guy. Her husband was loyal, understanding, and, above all else, loving and not just to Marian but to a child that was not even his. James Maxwell was Marian's idea of the perfect man, or at least as perfect as he could get, especially from such a traditional town that feared change and all "immoral" activities.

Perhaps that was another reason Marian wanted to help Rogue, because she knew how traditional the town was and how no one was ready to accept the fact that there are mutants in their town; that some of their own children were born with special gifts that have condemned them to wraths of those who did not understand or sympathize. She was not completely ignorant to the fact that a couple of the local kids were mutants, like Sydney and Carol. She knew, and they knew she knew.

"So, what will it be?" Marian asked a new customer who sat at the counter.

"Double cheeseburger, no pickles or onions," the customer stated. "With a root beer."

Jotting down the order, Marian glanced up at the customer as the person had an accent she was not used to hearing.

"Ya from outta town?" she inquired, posting the order for Joe.

"Qui."

"Passin' through or somethin'?" she continued to question as she sized the customer up. Male, wearing a dark brown trench coat that caused Marian to think of the first time she saw Rogue, and an odd, tight blue and red shirt with matching pants. What was stranger about the man was that he was wearing sunglasses, indoors.

"Nah, jus' lookin' for an old friend," he grinned. "Say, people pass in an' outta here e'eryday, right?"

"That they do," Marian confirmed, sensing that she was not going to like where this line of questioning was going to go.

He watched her from behind his shaded lenses as his grin grew broader. "Den you mus' have seen a fille, a girl, come in here at leas' once. She would have been wearin' dark clothes, gloves, an' has white streaks on both sides o' her face. Hard t' miss."

_Rogue, _Marian realized.

**Thank you to: Will, IvyZoe, enchantedlight, Spice9, and roguelover00. Thanks guys for reviewing.**


End file.
